USMMA Tops Catholic, 4-0, in Landmark Conference Tournament

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Second seed the United States Merchant Marine Academy posted a 4-0 shutout of third seed The Catholic University of America in the second game of the 2012 Landmark Conference Tournament hosted by Moravian College at Gillespie Field Saturday.

USMMA advances to play fourth seed Drew University in the winner’s bracket game on Sunday, May 6 at 12:30 p.m. while Catholic will play top seed Moravian in the first elimination game at 9:00 a.m. Sunday.

Catholic would start the game with a single by senior outfielder Tommy Little but the Cardinals would not score.

USMMA took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.  Sophomore shortstop Danny Collins singled with two outs and moved to second on a wild pitch.  Freshman outfielder Cameron Stadele followed with a walk before sophomore third baseman Nicholas Kopacka connected on an RBI single to score Collins.

The Mariners would get a one-out hit from sophomore first baseman John Martin in the fourth, and a single and stolen base by freshman catcher Jacob Wood in the fifth but USMMA was unable to score in either inning.

USMMA would threaten again in the bottom of the sixth inning when sophomore second baseman Warren Hartman led off with a single and stole second base.  After the second out of the inning, Collins was intentionally walked and Stadele followed with another base on balls to lead the bases.  Hartman would cross the plate on a wild pitch to push the Mariners’ lead to 2-0.  Kopacka followed with another walk to reload the bases but a Catholic pitching change would end the threat.

Catholic would get two runners on base in the top of the eighth inning when junior catcher Chris McCloud doubled with two outs, and freshman pinch hitter Wes Stonelake followed with a walk.  However, USMMA senior pitcher Andrew Martin would get a ground ball back to him to close out the inning.

The Mariners added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend their lead to 4-0.  Freshman outfielder Keil Silva drew a walk to start the inning, and he scored all the way from first base on a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt by John Martin.  Martin, who went to third on the error, scored on an RBI single from Collins.

The Mariners had a 7-3 edge in hits with Collins going two-for-three.

Andrew Martin had a three-hit shutout for USMMA with a walk and a strikeout to improve to 5-1 on the season.

Sophomore Andrew Carroll took the loss for the Cardinals after allowing two runs on six hits and four walks to go with four strikeouts in 5.2 innings of action.  Sophomore Kevin Farley tossed the other 2.1 innings with two runs, one earned, on a hit and a walk to go along with two strikeouts.