NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Playing on a cold, windy day at Captains Park, the offense was stifled on both sides before the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport Captains (5-0) broke open the game in the 6th inning en route to a 6-1 win over Eastern Mennonite on Tuesday afternoon. The Captains pitching staff combined for just one run on five hits led by sophomore Nathan Clements in his first career start. 

Clements earned his first career start against the Royals and worked through a strong five innings before being relieved by Tyler Jumper. Clements retired the side in order in the first and second innings with three strikeouts and faced only one batter more than the minimum through the first three frames.
 
The Royals scratched across one run on one hit and an error in the fourth inning against Clements, but the sophomore right-hander finished his day with an impressive line in his first career start. He struck out a career-high six batters in 5.0 innings with just one hit and one run allowed.
 
The Captains offense struggled to get going against the Eastern Mennonite starter, John Judy, as the junior retired the Captains in order through the first 3.2 innings. Senior Seth Woodard ended that run with a single through the left side in the bottom of the fourth, but Judy struck out the next batter to eliminate the threat.
 
The single by Woodard represented the only Captain to reach through the first two trips around the lineup card until Austin Henry worked a walk in the bottom of the sixth. Jordan Mason grounded to the right side to move him up to second base and Conner Clark followed with a hit-by-pitch to put two on for Woodard. The senior third baseman then hammered the first pitch he saw on the inside of third base for an RBI double to tie the game at one.
 
With Clark moving up to third base on the double, the Captains had the go-ahead run 90 feet away from the plate with John Anderson at the plate. Anderson worked the count full and reliever Jonathan Nagle bounced ball four in the dirt and Clark raced in for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run. Nicholas Baham was up next and kept the line moving, blistering a 1-1 pitch into left center field and plating two more runs as Woodard and pinch runner J.T. Bellotti sprinted home to put the Captains up, 4-1.

CNU tacked on two more runs int he seventh after Ryan Grubbs led off with an infield single and moved up on a wild pitch. Henry and Mason had back-to-back walks to load the bases for Clark, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. After Mason stole second, the Royals intentionally walked Woodard to face pinch hitter Evan Baer, who also delivered a sacrifice fly to plate another run. 
 
Jumper (1-0) worked a scoreless sixth inning to put himself in line for the win and gave way to senior lefty Austin Slough in the seventh. After a leadoff flyout, Slough gave up a single to center but then induced an inning-ending double play to close out the frame. Junior Brian Owens worked the eighth for his first appearance of the year, striking out a pair in a shutout frame, and junior Andrew Suppa closed out the win with a perfect 1-2-3 ninth with a pair of K's. As a staff, the Captains allowed just five hits while striking out 11 batters. 

Offensively, Woodard was 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored to lead the way while Baham added the two-run single. Henry, who had eight walks already leading into Tuesday's contest added two more in four plate appearances and scored twice. 

The Captains will return to action on Friday, February 22 against Susquehanna University at 2:00 pm, weather permitting. With heavy rain in the forecast, the weekend's schedule may change and fans are encouraged to check CNUsports.com throughout the week for any updates.