MADISON, N.J.  — The Catholic baseball team traveled to Madison to take on Drew in a doubleheader Friday afternoon with the possibility of clinching a berth into the Landmark Conference Tournament. The Cardinals received two gems on the mound from Roman Tozzi and Cody Bosak and came up with timely hits to pick up two wins over the Rangers to advance to 22-16 on the season.  The Cardinals started the game off with a bang in the top of the first inning bringing four runs to the plate to get out to an early lead. The first four Catholic hitters reached base and Dante Pozzi drew a walk with the bases loaded to score the first run of the game. Sammy Burman came up behind him and lifted a sacrifice fly into center field to score Joe Marini. Joe Haines tacked on the final two runs of the inning on a base-hit back up the middle to put the Cardinals on top 4-0. 

After allowing a solo homer in the bottom of the first, Tozzi mowed through the Rangers lineup throughout the majority of the game. He allowed just three hits over the next seven innings while retiring the last 13 batters he faced with seven strikeouts to hold Drew to just one run throughout his start. 

Catholic added on another run in the top of the sixth after Justin McCarthy led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Steve Thomas followed up by lacing a double down the left field line to score McCarthy all the way from first to push the lead back up to four. 

Zach Burton reached base in the top of the seventh by drawing a walk with one out and advanced up to third base on two straight wild pitches to be 90 feet from scoring. Jack Bateman dropped down a bunt single to bring Burton in to score to tack on another run for the Cardinals. Thomas picked up his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly to center field and Marini picked up an infield single to bring in the third run of the inning to extend the lead to 8-1. 

The Cardinals put the finishing touches on the win in the top of the ninth by scoring two more runs on a double down the right field line by Marini to push the lead to nine. Jake Kenney came in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth and set the side down in order to close out a 10-1 to clinch a spot in the Landmark Conference tournament next weekend. The Rangers scratched across a run in the bottom of the third when Braiden Yost picked up an RBI single to left center to bring in the first run of the game.

The Cardinals answered in the top of the fourth after Matthew Fisher worked a two-out walk to put himself aboard at first. Bateman came up with a double down the left field line behind him to bring Fisher in to score all the way from first to tie the game up at one.

Catholic took its first lead in the top of the seventh after Thomas ripped a single to right field and Marini and Mitchel Johnson walked behind him to load the bases. The Drew pitcher balked to allow Thomas to trot to the plate to put the Cardinals on top 2-1. 

The Cardinals added on two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth after Thomas and McCarthy both reached base to start the inning off. Burman came away with the swing to drive two runs in on a single to right center field to bring both runners in to push the lead out to three.

Jack Scholz came out of the pen for Catholic and set the Rangers down in order to record his third save of the season and close out another victory for the Cardinals, 4-1.

Inside the Box Score

• Tozzi's outing in game one was his longest of the season, finishing eight one-run innings and he tied a season-high in strikeouts with seven. He dropped his season era to 3.90 and improved his record to 5-2 on the season.
• Marini shined in game one for Catholic, finishing 3-for-5 with a season-high tying three RBI to help the Cardinals to the nine-run victory. Marini now has five games this season with at least three RBI. 
• Thomas continues to lead the team in batting average after picking up four hits over the two games to go along with his two RBI in game one. Thomas is now batting .379 on the season which is the eighth-highest in the Landmark this season.

Catholic has now clinched a berth in the Landmark Conference tournament next week and can clinch the fourth seed and a home game in the first round with a win in the game tomorrow.

The Cardinals regular season concludes tomorrow, May 3 for the final matchup in the series with the Rangers. First pitch is set for 10:30 am.