Catonsville take both games of the series 7-5, 9-5

The Lions played a home and away series with sister school CCBC Catonsville in which Catonsville won both, The first at Catonsville 7-5 and 9-5 at Dundalk the next day. The Lions are now 2-15 and 2-4 in the conference.

A rough bottom of the third gave the Cardinals an early 5-0 lead which they added another one on to in the bottom of the sixth. 

In the top of the 8th a pitching change for the Cardinals presented an opportunity for the Lions. Ivan Gonzalez was able to reach on a fielder's choice and a two out single moved Gonzalez to third. The lefty pitcher was eyeing up McNew on first and would attempt to pick him off. The whole time Gonzalez is creeping closer to home and as soon as the pitcher throws to first Gonzalez is gone and the Lions steal home and get a run on the board. 6-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th. The Cardinals would get one more run off of a sac fly 7-1. 

In the top of the 9th, After a Cardinals pitching change, Aldo Mercedes and Aaron Perez would draw back to back walks to start the inning and a wild pitch would put them on second and third. A strikeout would give the Lions their first out. Julian Samonte would come through with a single to bring home Mercedes and move Perez to third. Lions down 7-2 with two men on and 1 out and the Cardinals make another pitching change. Ivan Gonzalez would hit a single, Samonte to third, Perez scored 7-3. GT Maggay singles, Gonzalez to third, Samonte scores 7-4. With the tying run at the plate Doyle McNew would hit a sac fly to score Gonzalez, 7-5 with 2 outs and a runner on first. Tristan Pomeroy would draw a walk but the Lions comeback hopes would end there as a ground ball would end the game Lions lose 7-5. Ben Hall would pitch for 7.1 innings throwing 112 pitches with 67 of them being strikes. Hall would record 4 strikeouts while giving up 5 hits and 3 walks. The third inning was rough for Hall who otherwise had a quality outing on the day.

Game two was moved to Wednesday to avoid the rain we have this Thursday. The Lions wasted no time scoring the bottom of the 1st. Gonzalez hit a one out double and then stole third before Maggay brought him home with a groundout. The Cardinals responded by hitting a solo homerun in the top of the second, 1-1. In the top of the third the Lions aided the Cardinals with some mistakes to give up another run but they were able to get two outs. With two outs the Cardinals did some damage of their own, scoring two more. Evan Giordani would come in to pitch and get the final out, Lions down 4-1 going into the bottom of the third. 

In the top of the fourth Giordani struck out the first two batters but a ground ball turned into an error and once again the Cardinals came through with two outs to score another, Lions down 5-1. In the bottom of the 4th Isaiah Coxon hit his first homerun of the year, Lions down 5-2. At this point the Lions had two runs on two hits and had struck out eight times. 

In the top of the 6th errors plagued the Lions giving up another run when the Cardinals produced zero hits in the inning, 6-2 Cardinals lead. In the bottom of the sixth the Lions were able to hit four singles with Sam Richie's bringing home Gonzalez and Maggay with the Lions back in the game, down 6-4. The Lions would commit 3 more errors between the seventh & eighth inning resulting in 3 more runs for the Cardinals as they extended their lead 9-4. In the bottom of the Lions were not done yet as Samonte would hit a double. Gonzalez would hit a bunt single and move Samonte to third. A wild pitch would score Samonte and move Gonzalez to second but the Lions run production would end there in the 9-5 loss to catonsville. Giordani pitched 5.1 in relief recording 3 strikeouts surrendering 4 hits and 2 walks. 5 runs were scored when Giordani was on the mound but only 1 was earned. 

Julian Samonte was 2 for 8 with 2 Runs, RBI and a Walk

Ivan Gonzalez was 3 for 10 with 4 Runs and a RBI

GT Maggay was 2 for 8 with 2 RBI and a Run

Doyle McNew was 3 for 8 with a RBI and Run

Aldo Mercedes was 2 for 4 with a Run and a Walk