CUA Baseball Wins on Walk-off -

Sophomore designated hitter Jake Crist had one hit in the 10-inning victory over Bridgewater College.

By Jimmy Cassidy

The Catholic University of America baseball team made the most of a beautiful spring day in a game against Bridgewater College on April 14th at Robert J. Talbot field. After a back and forth contest that lasted more than three hours, the Cardinals picked up an exciting victory with a 10th-inning walk-off hit.

The shootout of a game featured 13 runs on 26 hits, and two home runs. In his very first at bat of the game, pinch-hitting senior Mike Iglesia drove a single over the center fielder’s head to drive in the winning run for a 7-6 CUA victory.

The bats came alive against Bridgewater’s pitching, and Catholic amassed one of its highest hit totals of the spring campaign. Five different players knocked two hits in the game, and the team got 14 in the evening. Interestingly, 13 of those hits were singles, and the outlier was a three-run home run. The man responsible for the three-blast over the right field wall was junior outfielder Brett Padula. The bomb came just after senior Andrew Stewart hit a long shot down the left field line. The show also would have been a home run, if it were not called foul by the umpire.

Sophomore pitcher Jack Hennessy started on the mound for the Cardinals. The righty came into the game with a 2-2 record and 4.81 ERA, but he did not last long in his outing against the Eagles. Hennessy gave up four runs on eight hits in more than two innings of work. Joseph Prego, Mason Belcher, Joe Salzano, Mark Duffy, and Sean Carroll all threw an inning in the relief effort.

The Bridgewater Eagles scored two runs in the first frame, and CUA responded with two of their own in the second inning. The visitors added two runs in the 3rd and 5th innings to go up 6-2 before Catholic answered with their big four run inning in the bottom half of the 5th. The next five innings saw no runners cross home plate until Iglesia’s heroics in the 10th.

Catholic is now 12-16 on the season. The team has plenty of work to do in the Landmark Conference to fight for a playoff spot, and the challenge returns this weekend. CUA will host Drew University for a series starting Saturday, April 16th.