WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic baseball team went into Sunday's rubber match against Coast Guard trying to take the series and move above .500 on the season. The Cardinals once again received a stellar pitching performance and the offense came up with several clutch hits throughout the game to earn a 9-0 win over the Bears and advance to 5-4 thus far this season.

It was a stalemate during the first three innings of the game as neither team pushed across a run and the Cardinals were held hitless their first time through the order. In the bottom of the fourth, Sammy Burman changed that with one swing, driving a ball over the fence in center field for his first home run of the season to put Catholic up 1-0. Two walks put two runners on for Jack Bateman with two outs in the inning and the Holy Cross transfer cashed in with his first base hit with Catholic to bring in Dante Pozzi. Two batters later, Steve Thomas kept his hot weekend going with a two RBI knock through the left side of the infield to cap off a four run inning for the Cardinals.

The Bears had a good chance to break through in the top of the fifth inning after two two out knocks put runners on first and second for Carson Cho. Sam Fairhurst induced a ground ball to second base that Zach Burton made a sliding backhanded stop on and threw Cho out at first to keep Coast Guard off the board.

Matthew Fisher ripped a one out double in the bottom sixth inning to get himself into scoring position and was moved over on a ground out to put him 90 feet away from scoring. Jack Elwell legged out an infield single to second base to bring Fisher in and tack on another run to the lead.

The Cardinals put the game to bed with a four run rally in the bottom of the eighth to push the lead up to 9-0, just needing three outs to close out a win. Bateman came through once again, punching a single into center field to bring in two more runs, followed by Burman who also poked a two-run single into the outfield to cap off the Cardinals scoring. Mac Meara closed things out in the ninth inning with a strikeout to finish off the victory.

Inside the Box Score

• Fairhurst completed six or more innings for the first time in his career while only allowing four hits and punching out three. Meara earned the first save of his career with three scoreless innings in relief.
• Burman completed the first four-hit game of his career with a homer and three singles while driving in three. He now has five multi-hit games on the season which leads the team thus far.
• The Cardinals pitching staff shutout the Bears over the final 18 innings of the series to earn back-to-back shutout victories. It is the first time Catholic recorded back-to-back shutout wins since 2022 when they did so against Ursinus. 

The next game for the Cardinals is Tuesday, March 11 when they take on Kean at Joe Cannon Stadium. First pitch is slated for 12 pm.