NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Freshly minted the No. 2 team in the nation, the Christopher Newport baseball team picked up it's first shutout of the season with a 3-0 win over Stevens Institute of Technology (3-9) on a chilly Tuesday afternoon at Captains Park. The Captains (14-2) won their fifth straight game behind five strong innings from Kyle Darmstead (2-0) and four one-hit frames by the bullpen arms. 

The Captains' junior right-handed starter tossed a career-best five innings for his second career victory, holding the Ducks to just four hits and one walk in the start. He also struck out a career-high six batters in the win while appearing in his first career shutout, combined with the bullpen. 

Following Darmstead's strong start, the CNU bullpen continued it's strong start to the 2019 season with four clean innings from four different players. Senior Austin Slough struck out one and induced an inning-ending double play in the sixth, and sophomore Carter Strain struck out one in a shutout seventh frame. Juniors Brian Owens and Andrew Suppa closed out the game with Owens striking out one in the eighth to set up Suppa for his third save of the season. Suppa struck out the first two batters he faced on three pitches and, after a walk, ended the game on a groundball up the middle that saw shortstop Austin Henry range to his left and fire over the first for the final out. 

As a unit, the pitching staff allowed just five hits while striking out 11 in the game. Darmstead and Slough each picked up double plays and all five pitchers earned at least one strikeout in the game.

On the offensive side of the ball, sophomore Conner Clark registered two of CNU's four hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. His first single came on a bad hop that got by the third baseman and the second was on a hard-hit groundball up the middle. Clark also stole a pair of bases and is 17-for-18 on the basepaths through the first 16 games played. 

Joseph Cutchins and Trey Hicks each had singles and an RBI apiece for the Captains while Eric O'Brien and Nicholas Baham scored for CNU. The first run of the game came in the bottom of the second when O'Brien was chased home on the single by Clark with two outs. Christopher Newport tacked on two more in the fifth when Clark singled up the middle and promptly stole second. Cutchins delivered the RBI single into right center to make it 2-0. Finally, after Baham walked and Jordan Mason was hit by a pitch, Hicks singled through the left side to plate Baham. 

The Captains are scheduled to play Tufts University on Thursday, March 21 at 3:30 pm in their next game. Following the mid-week non-conference action, CNU will travel to St. Mary's College of Maryland in CAC play this weekend.