VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The fourth-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team snapped Virginia Wesleyan's five-game winning streak by bouncing back for a 6-3 win on the road Wednesday afternoon. Senior Nick DiNapoli and sophomore Conner Clark extended their team-best hitting streaks to seven games with a pair of multi-hit contests as CNU improved to 10-2 on the season. 

The Marlins fall to 6-5 after the loss, which came as CNU scored three runs in the first and one more in each of the last three innings. In a "staff game" in which the Captains tossed eight different pitchers, reliever Tyler Jumper (3-0) continued his strong start to the season with his third win while junior Andrew Suppa picked up his second save. 

Patience at the plate paid off for the Captains as they drew seven walks as a team and also reached base on a pair of hit-by-pitches for nine free passes. CNU scored three runs in the first courtesy of that patience, as five of the walks came in the opening frame. After Clark reached on an error, the next three batters walked for the first run of the game when Nicholas Baham trotted to first and plated Clark. 

The next batter, DiNapoli, delivered a groundball out to the pitcher for an RBI, scoring Seth Woodard who walked in his first at-bat. The third run came in as the next batter, Trey Hicks, flew out to center field to sacrifice in a run in Jordan Mason. 

CNU cruised through the first four innings defensively, with Kyle Darmstead, Corey Williams, and Nathan Clements combining to shutout the Marlins with just four hits allowed. The Marlins got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and then tied the game up at 3-3 with a single run in the sixth. 

With a new ball game headed into the final third of the game, the Captains bats came alive again with DiNapoli leading the charge. Woodard walked to lead off the seventh and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a groundball moved him up to third base, Baham walked and DiNapoli singled to score the eventual game-winning run. In the 8th, Clark singled to lead off the inning and raced to third on a double by Woodard. Mason grounded back to the pitcher and Clark scored to put the Captains ahead, 5-3. 

Finally, in the ninth, DiNapoli got the line moving with a single through the right side and promptly stole second base. Senior catcher Ryan Grubbs singled to put runners at the corners, which allowed DiNapoli to race home on a sacrifice fly foul out by Eric O'Brien. 

After the Marlins tied the game, the CNU bullpen got back in control, with Jumper tossing a perfect seventh, 1-2-3, for the win, followed by Brian Owens and Suppa in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively. Jumper is now 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA through 14.2 innings of work this season in a team-high eight appearances. 

Clark and DiNapoli each finished 2-for-5 in the game while Grubbs was 2-for-3 with a walk. DiNapoli drove in a pair and scored once while Clark and Woodard each scored twice. 

The nationally-ranked Captains will now turn their attention to conference play for the first time this season as they play host to Frostburg State University on Saturday for a CAC doubleheader. First pitch at Captains Park is scheduled for 12:00 pm.