Cabrini University Cavaliers at Catholic University Cardinals
Sunday, Feb. 18,  2pm
Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, Washington, DC
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Scouting the Cardinals (2017 Record: 28-14 overall, 13-5 Landmark)
The Cardinals finished their 2017 season as Landmark regular season champions, but fell in the conference championship semifinal round to foe Susquehanna University by a 13-3 final. 

Catholic will assuredly look to build upon their success from last season as they return seven of their starting nine and six of their top seven pitchers from 2018. 

Among those returnees are 2017 ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selections senior Brennan Cotter (.386, 8 HR, 38 RBI) and junior Joe Mierzwa (8-1, 2.65 ERA, 90 K) along with All-Landmark honoree senior Mason Belcher (4-1, 3.11 ERA, 41K). Senior Danny O'Hagan (.345, 1 HR, 10 RBI), a consistent defensive presence last year, returns behind the plate for the Cardinals, while designated hitter junior Jake Crist (.366, 9 2B, 33 RBI) adds to Catholic's 2018 offensive efforts. 

Cabrini Last Time Out: Cavs' season ends with 14-1 loss against Cairn (5/6/17)
The final game of the 2017 season featured an outstanding effort from Highlander starter John Burlaga who threw a complete game, giving up just three hits and one run.

The Cavaliers' three hits came off the bats of junior Tyler Norris (1-1, 2B, 2BB), sophomore Vince Gares (1-2, 1BB) and Kevin Glynn (1-2, 1R, 1BB). 

Cairn struck first in the top of the second off of an RBI double from Brendan Keller. 

The Blue and White evened things at one apiece after Glynn led off the inning with a walk and quickly moved into scoring position after freshman Joe Aurite grounded out to short. A wild pitch and squeeze bunt later, courtesy of classmate Michael Mescia, had the Cavs back even with the Highlanders. 

Unfortunately, it would be all Highlanders the rest of the way as they added seven runs in the third, one in the fourth and five in the sixth to eventually take it by a 14-1 final. 

Catholic Last Time Out: Cardinals end season with 13-3 loss in Landmark semifinal (5/13/17)

The Cardinals watched as their 2017 season was cut short thanks to a 13-3 loss at the hands of the eventual conference runner-up Susquehanna University. 

Susquehanna scored runs in six of the games' nine innings, including a grand slam in the third to take a commanding 6-1 lead. 

Catholic senior Alec Dolton put the Cardinals on the board with an RBI single to right field in the third inning scoring classmate Anthony Ferlise. Trailing 10-1 in the eighth inning, Nicholas Kuczarski stepped to the plate and hit a rocket over the center field fence scoring Thien-Quoc Tran to cap the scoring at 10-3.
 

5 Factors for Cabrini

• The Blue and White return key contributors from last year's squad, including junior Tyler Norris and sophomore Alex Del Giudice, who both netted All-CSAC Honorable Mention honors in 2017.
• Senior Dylan Butler, who lead the team in slugging percentage (.495), RBI's (23), home runs (6) and total bases (55) from a year ago, also returns to man first base. 
• Head Coach Nick Weisheipl added a plethora of youth to the roster as 15 freshmen and three transfers will don the Blue and White in 2018.  
• Redshirt freshman Nicholas Gares will toe the rubber in game one; the staff ace totaled 11 IP, 7H, 1ER and 16K's last season before missing time due to injury. 
• Speedy sophomore Shaun Stackhouse finished 2017 with 16 steals - tying him for the third most in the conference. 

5 Factors for Catholic

• The Cardinals finished 2nd in the recent 2018 Landmark Preseason Poll as they received 49 points and three first place votes. 
• Catholic fared much better at home in 2017 than on the road, as they compiled an 11-4 record at Robert J. Talbot Baseball Field compared to a 10-8 record on the road. 
• Junior Brennan Cotter returns to the middle of the linup for Catholic, who finished 2017 with a .386 average, 8 HR, 38 RBI's and a .650 SLG%.
• As a team, the Cardinals walked just 139 times in 2017 with junior Bailey Lewis leading the returners with 14 walks. 
• Senior pitcher Jon Mierzwa logged 90 k's in 65 innings pitched last year, while also carrying a 2.63 ERA.  

 

	2017 TALE OF THE TAPE
Cabrini		Catholic
10-22 (4-17 CSAC)	Record	28-14 (13-5 Landmark)
.261	Batting Average	322
5.0	Runs per Game	7.0
.350	Slugging %	.446
54	Stolen Bases	44
7.47	ERA	4.10
136	Strikeouts (Pitching)	210
.342	Batting Average Against	.258

 

	2017 TEAM LEADERS
Tyler Norris (.365)	Batting Average	Brennan Cotter (.386)
Dylan Butler (6)	Home Runs	Brennan Cotter (8)
Dylan Butler (23)	RBI	Brennan Cotter (38)
Shaun Stackhouse (16)	Stolen Bases	Brett Padula (6)
Jake Dohar (5.94)	ERA	Jon Mierzwa (2.63)
Josh Breittholz (29)	Strikeouts (Pitching)	Jon Mierzwa (90)