Baseball Cruises in Season Opener
by Jared Prenda
The CUA Baseball team had a dominant showing in their 14-1 blowout victory over St. Mary’s College in Maryland in the Tuesday, February 21 season opener. The Cardinals look to improve heavily upon last seasons .513 win percentage (20-19 overall record). They looked to be in good form, only surrendering 1 run and showing utter control on offense.
The Card’s wasted no time getting on the board, with junior Paul Burmester hitting a 2-run single in the first. The next batter, fellow junior Brennan Cotter, drove in another run with a RBI double.
After a runless second from both sides, Catholic struck again in the third. Burmester reecorded his 3rd RBI of the day on a double that drove in sophomore Bailey Lewis. Cotter drove in his second on a sacrifice-fly that scored junior Anthony Ferlise. Sophomore Ryan Tracey gave the Cards a 6-1 lead at then end of the third on an RBI that scored Burmester.
The Birds continued their scoring effort throughout the next 3 innings. In the fourth, Junior Jake Cist hit double to drive in a run. In the fifth, Tracy managed to steal home on an error by the St. Mary’s catcher. The sixth had a run of its own on a single from Ferlise, giving the team a 9-1 lead after 6.
The offensive shelling continued into the seventh with 3 more runs scored. 2 of these came off of a double from Cist.
The eight inning saw the final two runs for Catholic, giving them a 13 run lead. One of which came on a bases loaded walk from freshman Jeff Guike to score fellow classmate Eric Moore. Junior Jack Hennessy hit into a fielder’s choice to score Cid Porter for the final run of the game.
Despite having an electric game on offense, the CUA side showed dominance on the mound. The team went through 8 separate pitchers, who recorded 11 total K’s, and only 6 hits.
The win was credited to sophomore Jon Miezwa, who started the game for the Cardinals. He only surrendered one single and earned a strikeout in his showing.
The sophomore was replaced by junior Jospeh Prego, who gave up St. Mary’s lone run and 3 hits in his 2 innings pitched.
Sophomore Collin Brown was on the rubber for the fourth, and was replaced the next inning by freshman Ross Dean. The Cardinals went through junior Sean Carroll, sophomore Colin Cunningham, and and fellow junior Mark Duffy until the ninth.
The Birds then called in senior closer Joseph Salzano. Salzano was named First Team All-Conference, and Third team All-Region last season.
The senior finished the game with pure dominance over the batters he faced. Of the four he faced, he managed to strike 3 out looking and close out the game.
The Cards annihilated St. Mary’s 14-1, and carrying plenty of momentum into a double header at Hood College. The games will be played Saturday, February 25. The team hopes to use the remainder of their games as a challenging warm-up as they head into the Ripken Experience tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina over Spring Break.
