WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic University baseball sophomore Michael Doody went 5-for-7 with two doubles, a home run and seven RBIs as the Cardinals extended their winning streak to 10 with a non-conference, doubleheader sweep of St. Mary's (Md.) Wednesday at Robert Talbot Field.
This marks the second-straight season that Catholic (21-10) has had a win streak of at least 10 games after the team started last year with 11 consecutive victories en route to its fifth Landmark Conference championship and third appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
Senior Ryan Tracy also totaled five hits on the day, going 5-for-9 with four runs and three RBIs.
Game 1: Catholic 12, St. Mary's 7
The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI-ground out by senior Bailey Lewis that scored junior Connor Sullivan before the Seahawks scored four in the top of the second.
Catholic got one run back in the bottom of the second on an RBI-double by sophomore Tighe Watson before tying the game on a two-run homer by Lewis and retaking the lead for good on sacrifice fly by sophomore Tyler Shaffer.
Lewis' second home run of the season extended his hit streak to a career-best 15 games, the longest on the team this season.
The Cards increased their lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the fourth before St. Mary's tied the game on a two-run double by Dakota Merritt in the top of the fifth.
However, Catholic sealed their 20th win of the season with six-run fifth, highlighted by a two-run homer to left by Doody to give the Cardinals a 12-6 advantage.
Sophomore Ethan Risse picked up his first win of the season after retiring two of the four batters he faced in the fifth before freshman Austin Nappi allowed just one hit and an unearned run over the final two innings.
Tracy was 3-for-4 in the opener while Lewis went 1-for-4 with four RBIs and Doody was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Sullivan and sophomore Cole Campbell also had two hits each.
Game 1: Catholic 10, St. Mary's 8
Once again, the Cardinals struck early, plating two run in the first on a two-run double by Doody before adding four more in the second on another two-run double by Doody and two-run single by Tracy to lead 6-1 after two.
The Seahawks (8-19-1) scored two runs in the fourth and Catholic answered with two runs in the fifth on an RBI-single by Doody and RBI-double by junior Nolan Lundholm.
Trailing 8-3, St. Mary's pulled within one on a grand slam by Jay Hammett in the top of the seventh that scored four unearned runs after two Cardinal errors.
However, Catholic got some breathing room with two runs in the bottom of the inning on RBIs by juniors Will Pyne and Cid Porter.
Junior Eric Moore picked up his second win of the season in relief of freshman Jack Zaffiro. Moore scattered three hits over four innings of work and struck out four while not allowing an earned run. After Risse pitched a scoreless eighth, Lundholm earned his first save in his 20th career appearance by retiring the final three batters he faced after allowing an RBI-double.
Doody finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and five RBIs while Tracy had two hits, two runs and two RBIs. The Cardinals are now 15-4 when Doody is the DH.
In his first game batting second this season, Lewis went 0-for-3. He extended his on-base streak to a team-high 16 games with a walk and hit-by-pitch, but saw his 15-game hit streak come to an end.
In two games, Catholic hit .407 (11-for-27) with runners in scoring position while totaling six, two-out RBIs. During the team's current 10-game winning streak, the Cards are hitting .437 (62-for-142) with runners in scoring position and have totaled 35 of their 90 RBIs with two outs.
The Cardinals travel to Stevens for another non-conference doubleheader on Friday. First pitch from Dobbelaar Field is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.