Cardinals Drop a Pair at Moravian; Regular-Season Championship Comes Down to One Game

Cardinals Drop a Pair at Moravian; Regular-Season Championship Comes Down to One Game

(May 1, 2010) – Catholic University had a chance to clinch the Landmark Conference regular-season championship Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa. Instead, it dropped into a first-place tie with a game to play.

Moravian College (22-13) swept a doubleheader from the Cardinals at Gillespie Field, 6-2 and 5-1, and will host CUA (21-14) on Sunday at 11 a.m. The winner earns the right to host the four-team conference tournament next weekend. Both squads are 13-4 in the Landmark.

The Greyhounds received strong pitching performances from their starters Saturday. Senior Chris Morrison improved to 6-1 with his six-hit, one-walk effort in game one. He struck out six and did not allow an earned run in his seven-inning complete game victory.

The Cards’ Andrew Moldawer fell to 4-2 after giving up five earned runs and 10 hits in six innings. Moravian tagged him for four runs in its final two at-bats to break a 2-2 tie.

Dave Zubia, Kevin O’Keefe, Jason Huber and Jake Schweitzer rapped two apiece for the Greyhounds. L.J. Travaglia and Dmitri Deoudes did the same for the Cardinals.

Brendan Close (4-0) was even better than Morrison in the nightcap. The sophomore threw a four-hitter, allowed one earned run, walked one and fanned nine. Deoudes (1-for-3) had an RBI single in the first inning for CUA’s only run.

Moravian tied it in the third and scored four times in the fifth on five hits. Ron Esposito went all the way for the Redbirds and surrendered 10 hits and four earned runs. He didn’t get much help offensively as the Cardinals managed just four singles off Close.

Blake Shortall led the Greyhound hitters with his 2-for-3, 2-RBI performance. His double in the fifth brought his club’s second run home.

CUA has swept four three-game Landmark Conference series this season. It will be happy to salvage a game against Moravian on Sunday.