Staff photo / Preston Byers Cardinal Mooney’s Kaden Reese slides into third base after a defensive error during Monday’s game against Ursuline at Bob Cene Park in Struthers.

STRUTHERS — Springboarding off a seven-run third inning, Cardinal Mooney remained undefeated Monday with an 8-0 win against rival Ursuline at Bob Cene Park in Struthers.

The Cardinals, whose starter Ben Oddis largely shut the Irish down from the mound, batted around the order in the bottom of the third and capitalized on a few defensive mistakes to pull away.

“It started on the bump,” Mooney head coach Eddie Reese said. “Ben Oddis was very good. We tell our pitchers to give us a chance, and he gave us a chance. And offensively, we battled and had one good inning. I thought we could have been better or more consistent, but we did enough to get a W tonight.”

Ursuline’s CJ Snyder, the second batter of the game, singled through the left side of the infield in the top of the first. However, he, like many of his teammates Monday, was left stranded on base when Oddis forced a groundout and struck a batter out.

Mooney similarly left two on at the end of the first, when an Andrew Bushey single and Ford Stacy walk was followed by an inning-ending lineout to center field.

After the Irish again left a runner stranded, the Cardinals took the lead in the bottom of the second.

To lead off the half-inning, Oddis reached base when an Ursuline throw to first base bounced in the dirt. Will Petty soon thereafter singled, as did Luke Kollar, who drove in Oddis for the first run of the game. Irish starter Rowan Urbach, whose wild pitch allowed both Petty and Kollar to advance, managed to prevent any further damage with back-to-back strikeouts.

He could not do the same in the third inning, though. After leaving another runner stranded in the top of the third, Ursuline could do very little to stop Mooney in the home half.

Kaden Reese drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and advanced to third on an errant throw. Johnny Brenner also walked, bringing up Oddis, who singled to center field to bring Kaden Reese home. During the next at-bat, Taco Verocco tripled to deep right field, driving in Brenner and Oddis and giving the Cardinals a 4-0 lead. Urbach then hit Petty with a pitch.

Mooney added to its lead with a hard-hit Kollar single, which scored Verocco and Petty, and not long after, Bushey brought home Kollar on a sacrifice fly, and Kaden Reese singled through the infield to drive in Ryan Reese to take an 8-0 advantage.

“I think we just kind of settled into the game a little bit,” Eddie Reese said. “Playing Ursuline, you know, everybody’s a little amped up and all that. But it’s just another baseball game at the end of the day, and after we went through our lineup one time, we kind of settled in and got more comfortable and got the nerves out a little bit.”

While Ursuline sophomore reliever Drew Nemtz stopped the Cardinals’ scoring, the Irish’s offense failed to muster nearly enough for a comeback. Facing Oddis and eventually Petty, Ursuline struggled to get hits and, when it did, continued to leave runners on base. For the game, the Irish had six total runners left stranded.

Oddis earned the win Monday, allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out seven batters in six innings pitched. Petty, who pitched the final inning, surrendered a hit and struck out a pair. For Ursuline, Urbach picked up the loss after pitching 2 2/3 innings, during which he struck out five. Nemtz allowed just two hits, zero walks and struck out three in 3 1/3 innings.

“We can’t make mistakes against a baseball team like that,” Ursuline coach Paul Kempe said. “I think Drew Nemtz came in and did a great job in relief. I think Rowan threw well too, but we have to make routine plays to help him out.”

With the win, Mooney improved to 10-0 on the season. The Cardinals have won each game by at least four runs, and collectively, have outscored their opponents 89-12.

They will get a chance to complete the season sweep of their crosstown rivals tonight, as Ursuline (5-3) will technically be the home team when the two meet in the second leg of a back-to-back at 7 p.m.

“I think it’s a great challenge for both teams, being able to go one day to the next,” Kempe said. “Things I challenged our guys with is, can you learn from your mistakes and can you come ready to go? If not, we’re going to put ourselves in a tough spot. That’s the big thing. Flush today, and we gotta be ready to come tomorrow.”