MADISON, N.J. — The Catholic baseball team looked to close out the regular season on a high note with an opportunity to sweep Drew on Saturday morning. After the game was tied at four through the first five innings, the Cardinals offense scored runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to pull away from the Rangers and finish off the regular season on a six-game win streak, the team's longest of the season.
The Cardinals put together a strong inning at the plate in the top of the third inning after
Matthew Fisher reached on an error and
Jack Bateman drew a walk to put the first two runners on base.
Justin McCarthy dropped down a sacrifice bunt and the first baseman threw the ball away to allow Fisher to come in to score for the game's first run.
Steve Thomas cashed in behind McCarthy by roping a triple to right center field to score both runners.
Joe Marini kept the train rolling with an RBI single into center field to score Thomas to put Catholic on top 4-0.
The Rangers picked up two runs in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth inning to pull the game back even at four.
Mitchel Johnson led off the top of the sixth inning with a walk and two batters later
Sammy Burman also drew a walk to put two runners on with one out.
Zach Burton put Catholic back on top with an RBI single back up the middle to plate Johnson to make it a 5-4 game.
Catholic continued to add on runs in the top of the seventh after two more walks put two runners on with one out for Johnson. Johnson came through with a single to right center field to bring McCarthy to the plate and Burman also picked up an RBI single into center field to score Marini to extend the Cardinals lead to three.
The bats stayed hot for the Cardinals in the top of the eighth as they brought in three more runs to the dish to take a comfortable 10-4 lead. The first three runners of the inning all reached base for Catholic and the first run came in after Thomas was plunked by a pitch with the bases loaded. Marini tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly into right field to score Bateman and
Dante Pozzi brought in the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to left field to give Catholic a 10-4 advantage.
Between
Danny Prior,
Henry Escandon and
Will Hanson, the Cardinals combined to shut the Rangers out over the final four innings in relief to lock down a 10-4 win to finish the regular season with 23 wins and a 14-10 conference record. The win locked Catholic into the fourth-seed in the upcoming Landmark Conference tournament.
Inside the Box Score
- Thomas finished with a career-high tying three RBI to lead the Cardinals, the second time he has driven in three runs this season. His triple made him the third player on the team to record multiple triples this season. He finishes the regular season as the team's hits leader with 56, which is the second-most in the Landmark, and is now riding a nine-game hit streak.
- Pozzi recorded another RBI to bring his team-leading total to 41 on the season, the fifth-most in the conference this season. His 33 RBI in conference games remains the most in the conference this season.
- Johnson drew two more walks in the game to bring his season total to 40 which leads the Landmark. He is just the third player in program history to draw 40 or more walks in a single season, joining Pozzi (43, 2023) and Marc Marini (41, 2000).
The Cardinals will host the First Round of the Landmark Conference tournament on Tuesday, May 6. Catholic will play host to either Lycoming or Susquehanna depending on results that happen later today and the time and location for the game will be announced in the upcoming days.
