CUA Baseball Beats Stevenson, 6-5 -

henn — Sophomore pitcher Jack Hennessy pitched five solid frames and kept his team in the game in the win over Stevenson.

By Jimmy Cassidy

The Catholic University of America’s baseball team came home from its nine-inning road match up against Stevenson University with a 6-3 victory. The win advances the Cardinals to 4-4 in 2016, while the Mustangs move to 4-5 overall.

Catholic, who is averaging over 11 hits per game, tallied 13 hits from eight different athletes while recording zero defensive errors during the midweek contest. The Cards got right to business with a run in the first inning and put up two more in the second. Stevenson answered in the bottom of the second with two runs but were unable to equalize.

Just two days after being named the Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week, freshman Bailey Lewis drove in the opening run for the contest. At the top of the fifth he opened the game up for the Cards with his second RBI of the night and then came across the plate on a Mustang’s fielder’s choice, bringing the Cards ahead 5-2. Stevenson notched an additional run in the bottom of the fifth but the would be the final run the CUA defense would allow.

With the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, senior Eric Scamardella dropped single into center field to score senior Andrew Stewart. Neither team gave up a run in the final 3.5 innings leaving the scoreboard 6-3 in favor of the Cards and the end of nine. Lewis drove in two RBI’s for the Cards while Scamardella and freshman Ryan Tracy each had one. Stewart had the team-high three hits.

Sophomore Jack Hennessy threw fiving innings from the mound for the Cardinals. Freshman Jon Mierzwa stepped in for relief and junior Joe Salzano earned his first save of the 2016 season, allowing no hits in the final inning.

The win is the team’s first since their annual spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, where it went 3-1 in the beautiful weather of South Carolina. The club has been selected as the favorite to win the Landmark Conference by coaches of the conference. Head Coach Ross Natoli is welcoming 30 players from the 2015 Landmark Championship team, and looks to have another successful spring campaign.

The Cardinals return home tomorrow, Saturday March 12th to host Hood College for a doubleheader at 12 PM and 2:30 PM at Robert J. Talbot Field.