WILKES-BARRE, Pa.  – The Catholic baseball team opened up a three-game set against the top-seed in the Landmark Conference on Friday night, trying to stay alive in the postseason chase in the final conference series of the season. After pitching was in control for both teams throughout the first three innings, Matthew Fisher sparked the offense with a two-run homer, spurring the Cardinals to a nine runs to record an impressive victory over the Colonels. 

The fourth inning started off with a hit by pitch to put Sammy Burman on first base before Fisher launched his two-run homer to left field to make it a 2-0 game. After Chase Falcon drew a walk, Jack Bateman collected a two-out RBI when he tripled deep into center field to bring Falcon to the plate to extend the lead. Jack Elwell added onto the rally with a single to right field to score another run to extend the Catholic lead to four. 

Roman Tozzi allowed just two base runners throughout his first four innings on the bump for Catholic including retiring eight in a row from the second through the fourth inning to keep Wilkes off the scoreboard. The Colonels finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth with two runs to cut the deficit to three, after Falcon picked up an RBI single in the top of the inning, to make the score 5-2.

After Jack Scholz tossed a shutout inning in the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals added some padding to the lead with three runs in the top of the seventh. Chris Esquivel started the frame off with an infield single and Fisher continued his strong day with a base hit into left field to score Esquivel. Gabriel Ruiz and Michael Napolitano both also notched RBIs after great at-bats led to walks with the bases loaded to put Catholic ahead 8-2.

One more run was brought to the dish for the Cardinals in the top of the eighth as Burman poked a single into center field to score Esquivel to put them on top 9-2. Will Hanson was brought in late for Catholic and pitched two clean innings in the eighth and ninth, with the only base runner allowed being a walk, helping lock down a 9-2 victory for Catholic. The Cardinals improved to 20-15 on the season and they sit sixth in the conference at 10-12. 

Inside the Box Score

• Fisher was the star offensively for the Cardinals, finishing the game 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs to help Catholic grab the win. His three hit performance was his second such game of the season and it was also his second game of the year with three or more RBIs.
• Tozzi finished the game with just two hits allowed and zero earned runs with three strikeouts over his five innings on the mound. He now holds a 3.46 ERA on the season and earned his team-leading tying fourth win of the year. Tozzi is also the team leader in innings pitched with 54.2 during his campaign
• Hanson recorded his seventh outing of the season where he pitched multiple innings in relief without allowing a run. His ERA dropped to 2.08 on the season over 30.1 innings with 26 strikeouts.

The Cardinals will finish the series with the Colonels on Sunday, April 26 for a doubleheader that will begin at 12 pm at Bruggeworth Field.