Cardinals down York 8-3 for second straight win

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WASHINGTON – CUA won its second straight game on Thursday, downing York 8-3 at Talbot Field.  The Cardinals once again received strong pitching and the offense piled up 10 hits en route to CUA's fourth win of the season.  Mark Kalokitis and Marc Hanna finished with two hits apiece, while Kalokitis and Dan Hinchcliff drove in two runs each.

York scored in the top of the first when Drew Frankenfield drove in Dustin Worthman with a single, but the lead was short lived, as CUA pushed two runs across in the bottom half.

The inning began with back-to-back walks to Tommy Little and Tim Mierzwa.  Kalokitis then drove in Little with a single to center, and Hanna followed with an RBI single of his own to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

The Spartans came right back and tied things at two in the second when Andrew Hersey scored on a CUA error.

After a scoreless third and fourth, York went back in front in the fifth when Justin Cohen scored on a wild pitch.  CUA again had an answer though, scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.

Hinchcliff led the inning off by getting hit by a pitch and Little followed with a double.  Mierzwa then singled home Hinchcliff to knot the score at three.

Matt Grieb was next and his ground out to second pushed Little across to put the Cardinals in front by one.  Kalokitis followed with a single, which plated Mierzwa and CUA took a two-run lead.

CUA then put things away with another three-run inning, this one coming in the seventh.  Kalokitis walked with one out and Nick Scali came in for him to pinch run.

Hanna then singled to put runners on the corners with one out.  Pinch hitter Brendan Breslin followed with a walk, and on the same play, York's catcher threw the ball into centerfield, which plated Scali.

With two outs, Hinchcliff stepped to the plate and he delivered a two-run single to extend the CUA lead to five runs.

CUA's bullpen took its from there, with Thomas Travaglia and Kory Smigocki combining to throw 2.1 innings of hitless baseball to preserve the win.

Andrew Carroll got the start on the hill for CUA, and he went 4.0 innings, striking out three and allowing two runs during that time.  Colin Kelly then came on in relief, and he earned the win after going 2.2 innings and striking out one.

Joey Couch suffered the loss for the visitors after allowing eight hits and five earned runs in 4.2 innings of work.

CUA now heads out on its annual spring break trip.  The Cardinals will play six games in Myrtle Beach, S.C. beginning on Sunday, March 4 when they take on King's College at 3:30 p.m.