Washington Rallies to Top Catholic, 5-4

WASHINGTON, DC - Senior pitcher Chris Keiper (Toms River, NJ/Monsignor Donovan) picked up his eighth save of the season to tie the Centennial Conference single season mark in saves as visiting Washington College recorded a 5-4 comeback victory over host Catholic on Tuesday afternoon at Talbot Field in non-conference baseball action. The Shoremen improve to 17-13 with the win, while the Cardinals drop to 20-12 with the loss.

Keiper tied Sven Stafford of Johns Hopkins who recorded eight saves during the 2004 season.

Washington trailed 4-3 entering the top of the eighth inning and would tie it at 4-4 on a two-out RBI single by sophomore Ryan Normoyle (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) that scored senior Matt Boucher (Alexandria, VA/Bishop Ireton). In the top of the ninth, senior Brian Kramer (Fairfax, VA/W.T. Woodson) cracked an RBI double with one away that chased in freshman Kyle Aldrich (Warren, NJ/Watchung Hills Regional) to put the Shoremen up 5-4 on an unearned run. In the bottom of the ninth, Keiper retired the Cardinals in order with two strikeouts, including a punch out of Tommy Little looking to record the final out and register the save.

In the top of the first, WC scored first when freshman Sean Connole (Mt. Airy, MD/St. John's Catholic) scored on a double play ball to put the Shoremen up 1-0. Catholic answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame on a two-run single by Tommy Bowles to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. L.J. Travaglia scored on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the second to put the Cardinals up by a 3-1 score.

In the third inning, each side scored in its half of the inning. Kramer scored on an error by Catholic to cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the frame. In the bottom half of the inning, the Cardinals re-established the two-run cushion at 4-2 on a fielder's choice that plated Dmitri Deoudes. The Shoremen scored in the top of the fifth to trim the Catholic lead to 4-3 on a home run by sophomore John Rolewicz (Bear, DE/Salesianum). The score would stay that way until the top of the eighth inning.

For Washington, freshman Joe Kearney-Argow (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) got the win on the mound and improves to 4-2 on the season. He went eight innings, giving up three earned runs and scattered eight hits. He gave way to Keiper for the ninth inning. At the plate, three Shoremen totaled two hits each, Rolewicz, Normoyle and Kramer with Normoyle knocking in two runners.

Bowles had two hits and two RBI for Catholic and Mark Kalokitis had two hits also. On the mound, Mike Bzozowski took the loss and falls to 3-1.

It is Washington's first win over Catholic since a 17-6 win in 1990 and the Shoremen snapped a four-game losing streak to the Cardinals.

Washington, the four-seed in this weekend's Centennial Conference Baseball Tournament, returns to action Friday with a 3:00 p.m. tournament game at top seed and No. 1 ranked Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.