YORK, Pa.  — The Catholic baseball team traveled up to York to take on the Spartans on Wednesday afternoon, trying to rebound off the loss yesterday to stay above .500 on the season. The long ball gave a big boost to the Cardinals offense as four homers contributed to Catholic's 12 runs to take down the Spartans, 12-8.

After Steve Thomas and Sammy Burman worked their way on base to start the game off, Mitchel Johnson started off a big day at the plate for himself with a two RBI double down the left field line to bring both runners in and give Catholic an early 2-0 lead. 

After the Spartans put together a big first inning by scoring five runs, the Cardinals would not trail for long as they put a rally of their own together to put up four more runs and take a 6-5 lead. Jack Bateman led the inning off with the first home run of his collegiate career to spark the offense, followed by Thomas and Burman once again setting the table for Johnson who came up with runners on first and second with one out. The hot swinging Johnson continued his streak, depositing a three-run homer over the wall in center field to put Catholic back on top by a run.

After Jesse Lacefield reached base with a knock into right field, Bateman stepped into the box once again and continued the early barrage from the Catholic offense. Bateman got a pitch to drive once more and smoked his second home run of the game out to center field to extend the Cardinals lead to 8-5. 

York used a run in the bottom of the fifth and two runs in the bottom of the sixth to knot things back up at eight moving into the final three innings. Catholic grabbed momentum back in the top of the seventh inning after Dante Pozzi, Joe Marini and Matthew Fisher reached base to load the bases with nobody out. The Spartans handed over two runs to the Cardinals with a hit by pitch and a walk worked by Logan Eilbacher. Thomas delivered the final blow of the inning with a base-hit into left field to bring Marini home and put the Cardinals on top 11-8.

Johnson was not done making an impact with the bat in the game as he launched his second home run of the game to left field to lead off the top of the eighth to extend the lead out to four. Luke Cardman, Camden Mounts and Mac Meara combined to lock things down on the mound over the last three innings to close out a 12-8 win to get the Cardinals to 9-7 on the season.

Inside the Box Score

• Bateman and Johnson both became the first players to hit multiple homers in a game this season with the four between the two of them. Johnson is now tied for the conference lead with six home runs on the season and he now has 21 in his career. It was also the third multi-homer game of his career. For the second consecutive season, Johnson has homered twice in the same game with one of his teammates after doing so with Eilbacher last season against Arcadia.
• Pozzi picked up two more hits to move his average to .295 on the season. He now holds a five game hitstreak which is the second longest on the team this season.
• Cardman, Mounts and Meara combined to allow just two hits over the final two innings while striking out five.

The Cardinals return to Landmark play this upcoming weekend for a three game series against Juniata starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 22 at Langdon-Goodale Field. First pitch is slated for 12 pm.