NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport posted just five total hits on Sunday, but still managed to split a doubleheader at Virginia Wesleyan. The Marlins, top-ranked in the country and two-time defending National Champions, downed the second-ranked Captains in the opener, 3-1. CNU bounced back to take the nightcap in eight innings, 2-1, on a sunny and pleasant day at TowneBank Park on the VWU campus in Virginia Beach.
Keith Parr's Captains are now 16-2, and had a 15-game winning streak snapped in the opening game defeat. Virginia Wesleyan's record is now 19-2 following the non-conference split.
Junior
Aubrey Bates improved to 7-1 by throwing all eight innings in game two for the Captains. Bates stranded ten Wesleyan runners, scattered six hits and struck out eight batters in the 2-1 CNU triumph. The Captains plated what proved to be the winning run thanks to an error by the Marlins in the top of the eighth inning allowing pinch-runner
Keely Crittenden to score the go-ahead run. Bates then returned to the circle and registered a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth to seal the victory. Earlier, junior second baseman
Grace Wild had doubled home freshman
Sarah Proctor in the third inning for CNU's only other run in the game. The Marlins quickly answered with a run off Bates in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 1-1.
In the opener, home runs accounted for all four runs as the Marlins recorded a 3-1 win. Leftfielder Madison Glaubke broke open a scoreless tie with a three-run blast off CNU starter
Trish Webb in the bottom of the third frame. Sophomore leftfielder
Patty Maye Ohanian cracked her sixth home run of the season in the top of the sixth inning for CNU's lone run of the game. VWU starter Hannah Hull went the distance, giving up just one run on two hits while striking out 14 and walking five. Hull improved to 13-0 on the season, while Webb took the loss to fall to 2-1.
Christopher Newport will open Capital Athletic Conference play on Saturday at Southern Virginia University. The CAC doubleheader in Buena Vista is set to start at 2:30 p.m.