NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- After running their win streak to 10 games, the Christopher Newport baseball team is receiving votes in both the D3baseball.com Top 25 and the ABCA national rankings this week and will look to continue their hot streak with a road trip to Mary Washington on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch in Fredericksburg is scheduled for 3:00 pm, with live stats and live video available of the Capital Athletic Conference action courtesy of UMW Athletics.
The Captains (19-9, 9-0) remain unbeaten in conference play and will be looking for a season sweep of the Eagles (11-10, 4-5) after defeating them at home, 7-0, two weeks ago. CNU rookie
Thomas Packert led the way in a two-hit shutout, as three pitchers combined for the clean sheet. Packert tossed seven innings with seven strikeouts and just one walk, while giving up only two hits. Senior
Caleb Myers and junior
Joe Burris each threw a clean inning to wrap up the win.
Since then, CNU has run off six more wins in a row and has caught the attention of some Top 25 voters, collecting nine points in this week's D3baseball.com poll. CNU is the lone CAC team represented in the voting after Salisbury dropped out despite holding a spot in the poll for the duration of the season prior to Monday's Week 5 ranking. The Captains also picked up 23 points in the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball poll. Salisbury is also recognized, as the first team in the 'Others Receiving Votes' category.
The win streak has been bolstered by solid pitching across the board for Christopher Newport, as the staff has not allowed more than four runs in a game during the roll. The team has posted a 1.78 ERA in the winning streak, while striking out 86 batters for an average of nearly nine per game.
While the pitching has rolled, the offense has rocked opposing pitching to the tune of 80 runs over that span, outscoring opponents by a tally of 80-19. Senior
A.J. Nicely has paced the offense of late, hitting a team-best .396 and garnering CAC Player of the Week accolades for an impressive four-game stretch last week. Three more regulars are hitting well over .300 to help the Captains hit .303 as a team: juniors
Craig Johnson (.350) and
Brandon Ginch (.337), and sophomore
Nicholas Baham (.333). Baham also ranks second in the CAC in RBI with 28, and walks, with 17.
Mary Washington comes into the Wednesday afternoon tilt after winning two of the last three games. Nick McIntyre leads the pitching staff with a 3.25 ERA over 36 innings of work, while striking out a team-best 43 batters. Hank Biggs, a sophomore, has also struck out 42 batters for the Eagles, while posting a 4.32 ERA. Offensively, freshman Christian Hague has a .346 average with 11 RBI and eight runs scored, while sophomore Stephen Johnston leads the team with 19 RBI.
Live stats and video links will be available on the baseball schedule at CNUsports.com.
