WASHINGTON, D.C.  – The Catholic baseball team tried to capture the weekend series against Coast Guard on Sunday afternoon in a rubber match after splitting Saturday's doubleheader. Four runs in the first four innings for the Cardinals offense brought the early momentum and the pitching staff was nails throughout the game to help them claim the series with a 4-3 win over the Bears.

Nate Stafford brought in the lone run that would be allowed by Landon Penney in his start in the top of the first with an RBI double to start off the scoring on the afternoon. Jack Elwell started off the bottom of the inning with a double to opposite field and two batters later Sammy Burman traded places with Elwell with an RBI double of his own to tie things up at one. 

Chase Falcon gave Catholic its first lead in the bottom of the third with a sacrifice fly into left field to bring Burman to the plate. More runs were tacked on in the bottom of the fourth when Matt Perlin led-off the inning with a double. He was eventually brought in to score on a sac fly by Elwell to make it a 3-1. Lance Eilbacher started a two-out rally with a base hit back up the middle and two batters later Chris Esquivel picked up an RBI knock to extend the lead to three.

Penney worked through five strong innings for the Cardinals, only allowing the one run in the first inning, with four strikeouts without walking a single batter. Brennan O'Keefe came in out of the pen for the sixth and also recorded a clean inning to keep the lead at three.

The Bears were able to push two runs across in top of the seventh to cut the Cardinals lead down to one. With the tying run at second, Luke Cardman induced a pop out to the catcher to strand the runner and hold on to the advantage.

Cardman remained in the game for the final two innings and had to deal with the tying run in scoring position with just one out in the top of the ninth. Cardman once again stood up to the challenge with a strike out and foul pop out to wrap up a 4-3 victory for Catholic to improve to 7-3 on the season. 

Inside the Box Score

• With his win today, Penney continued his stellar start to the season, posting a 1.29 ERA over 14 innings with 14 strikeouts over his three starts. He is currently holding opponents to a .250 batting average.
• Burman continues to be one of the hottest bats for Catholic this season, reaching base three more times in the win, with his RBI double. So far this season, nine of his 14 hits have gone for extra-bases.
• Perlin and Michael Napolitano brought some depth to the Catholic lineup in the eight and nine spots, each finishing the day 2-for-4.

The Cardinals are back in action on Tuesday, March 10 for the first of two games against Rhode Island College. First pitch is set for 2 pm at Talbot Field.