LANCASTER, Pa. - For the first time in seven years, the Landmark Conference trophy is returning to D.C. The Catholic Cardinals defeated Scranton, 5-3, on Sunday afternoon to clinch its sixth title in Landmark Conference history. 

The Cardinals made it through the entirety of the Landmark Conference Tournament unscathed, just the third time in program history, and first since 2011, in which they've gone unbeaten to capture the crown. 

Catholic trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to the bat of John Heitzman who homered and drove in another with an RBI single early on. 

The Cardinals responded with a five-run fourth inning, the only inning in which they would plate runs on Sunday afternoon. 

Catholic loaded up the bases against starting pitcher Tim Gilhooley as Sammy Burman singled and stole second before Zach Burton and Matthew Fisher drew walks. Gilhooley was forced from the game and the Cardinals proceeded to score their first run on a passed ball. Jack Bateman tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Burton. Now 2-2, Justin McCarthy drew a walk and stole second to put two in scoring position. After an intentional walk was issued to Steve Thomas, Joe Marini gave Catholic the lead with another sacrifice fly. A double steal brought McCarthy home, making it 4-2 before Mitchel Johnson drove in the final run of the game to make it 5-2. 

Catholic starter Sam Fairhurst cruised through the next three inning before running into some minor trouble in the eighth. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Conor Campbell singled followed by a Heitzman single to push Fairhurst from the game. Jake Kenney entered and issued a walk before allowing an infield single to Pat Coyne, making it 5-3. Kenney retired the next batter to hold the lead, turning the ball over to Jack Scholz in the ninth. 

Scholz went three-up, three-down in the ninth, securing the victory and picking up his fifth save of the season for the Cardinals. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Catholic tallied just four hits in the game, one each from Johnson, Burman, Fisher, and Bateman. The Cardinals, however, drew 10 walks, including three from Fisher, two from Thomas, and two from Johnson. 
• Catholic improved to 28-24 all-time in the Landmark Conference Tournament, improving to 11-6 all-time versus Scranton, with back-to-back wins over the Royals this weekend. 
• Catholic's 10 walks are a Landmark Conference Tournament record for the program while its five stolen bases give Catholic three games in tournament history with five or more steals, and its first since 2009. 
• Fisher is the second Catholic player to draw three walks in a Landmark Conference Tournament game, joining Brennan Cotter vs. Scranton in 2018. 
• Fairhurst tossed 7.2 innings, allowing three runs and striking out five to pick up his sixth win of the year. The sophomore is just the third Cardinal to toss 7.2 or more innings in a tournament game, joining David Gately and Kevin Sweeney. 
• Johnson set a program record for walks drawn in a season, taking his 44th and 45th walks of the campaign to pass Dante Pozzi's 43-walk season from 2023. 

The NCAA Division III Baseball Selection Show will take place at 12 p.m. tomorrow as the Cardinals wait to see which Regional site they will compete at.