Box Score NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Christopher Newport's baseball team used a 17-hit day to defeat the Setters of Pace University 11-4 in a non-conference match-up on Saturday afternoon.
Kenny Moreland took the hill for the Captains in his seventh start of the season and worked 8 innings for the win, improving his record to 6-0 on the year. He only allowed 2 earned runs while walking one batter and striking out eight.
The game began with some action right away as the top of the 1st inning ended with a play at the plate, where the relay combination of Joey Martin and Trae Bailey threw out Jack Cawley to end the inning and keep the Setters off the board.
The Captains got on the board in the bottom of the second when Parker Neal knocked a single through the left side of the infield, scoring Ryan McDougal.
CNU added another run in the bottom of the third when Chris Despins looped an RBI single to left field, bringing in Bailey, who had reached on a triple to left center.
Christopher Newport then put up a 2-spot in the bottom of the 4th as Mike Giarrizzi came to the plate with runners on first and second. Giarrizzi hit a double off the wall in left center, bringing Neal around to score. Meanwhile, Joey Martin tried to score from first and was thrown out at the plate. On the same play, Giarrizzi tried to advance to third and the throw from Pace catcher, Cawley, went into left field allowing Giarrizzi to score.
In the bottom of the 5th, CNU tagged Pace for another two runs as RBI's came from Eric Cole and Parker Neal on a fielder's choice and a single, respectively.
The Captains would tack on 5 more runs between the 7th and 8th innings with big RBI hits coming from Neal, Despins, McDougal, and Thomas Drewery.
Chris Malvagna came on to wrap up the game in the top of the 9th inning, but after recording an out and allowing two runs, CNU turned the ball over to their closer Kevin Moreland, who came on to record the final two outs of the day.
For the game, the Captains were lead by 4-hit performances from Neal and Bailey, along with 3-hit performances from Despins and McDougal.
The Setters fall to 10-7 on the year, while the Captains improve to 16-4 on the season and will head to Harrisonburg on Wednesday to take on the Royals of Eastern Mennonite University. The first pitch is set to be thrown at 3:00pm.
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