Cardinals Use Late Rally To Capture Victory

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University baseball squad pulled off a big victory Wednesday evening as it defeated the Shenandoah University Hornets (17-15), 6-5, at Talbot Field. The Cards went into the bottom of the sixth trailing 5-1 but managed to chip away at the deficit to get the win. CUA is now 13-11 on the season as they prepare for another Landmark Conference series this weekend.

A homer in the top of the second started off the scoring as Shenandoah got on the board first. However, in the bottom of the third Mike Michalski (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) hit a solo shot over the fence to get within one. The Hornets took advantage of an error in the fourth as they scored after a double, a single and an error to make the score 3-1 as the Cardinal offense stalled. They added to the lead in the sixth three hits and a sac fly to bring a pair of runners across the plate giving SU a 5-1 lead and the game over the half way mark.

Despite their previous struggles, the Cardinal bats got on track in the bottom of the sixth with a little help from Robbie O'Brien (Columbia, Md./Long Reach) who had a two-run homer to get things started. This was O'Brien's fourth homer of the season. The defense forced a quick three and out in the top of the seventh and the offense took advantage of pitching changes in the bottom of the inning. Two walks put runners on and after a change on the mound, Joe Maca (Oyster Bay, N.Y./Saint Dominic) came up and drove in a run on a single to left field. The SU staff pulled their pitcher and tried another for the next batter but another hit to the same spot from Joe Devine (Medford Lakes, N.J./Shawnee) brought one more across the plate to knot it at five. The CUA defense managed three and out situations in the final two innings and went into the bottom of the ninth tied. Michalski, the lead off, walked and a fielder's choice brought him to second. Maca the hit a single to bring the runner to third and on the next at bat, an error by the catcher allowed Michalski to make it home for the 6-5 victory.

Maca and Devine led CUA at the plate with three hits apiece while O'Brien had a team-best two RBI. The Cards had nine hits to SU's eight and both teams committed one error on the day although Shenandoah's proved more costly. On the mound, Michael Bzozowski (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) took the win for the Cards closing out the final inning while reliever Brendan McGowan (Crofton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) also contributed to the CUA rally.

The Cardinals will host Scranton this weekend in a three-game Landmark Conference series. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at noon.