NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Despite the bullpen shutting down the Catholic offense for six innings and the offense threatening with the game-tying run multiple times, the third-ranked Captains were stung by the Cardinals (3-3) at home on Sunday afternoon, 4-3. The second straight setback drops CNU to 9-2 on the season.
Christopher Newport walked 10 times in the game and stole eight bases, but the Catholic pitching staff held the dangerous Captains offense to just three runs on seven hits with just one going for extra bases.
Catholic jumped ahead with four runs over the first three innings of action. Junior
Teddy Herbert (2-1) allowed a single run in the first and second and then two more in the third. He escaped more damage in each inning by stranding three runners in scoring position.
After giving up four earned runs on seven hits in the first three innings, the Captains bullpen took over in the fourth. Senior
Austin Slough struck out one in two shutout innings and gave way to
Tyler Jumper. The Captains' leading reliever this season, Jumper remained consistent with three clean frames with three strikeouts. Closing out the ninth inning, junior
Brian Owens struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning of relief.
Combined, the three relievers tossed 6.0 shutout innings with 4 hits and one walk allowed, striking out six. The offense started to chip away in support of that strong relief effort, cutting into the lead in the middle innings.
CNU first got on the board in the fourth as
Nick DiNapoli singled up the middle and stole second to get into scoring position.
Ryan Grubbs singled up the middle and
Jordan Mason walked to load the bases for
Conner Clark. The sophomore wasted no time, smacking the first pitch he saw up the middle to plate the Captains first run. Grubbs was racing home, but Mason was tagged at third on a strong throw from center before CNU could score what would eventually prove to be a pivotal run.
The Captains added another in the fifth as
Seth Woodard walked and stole second before moving up to third on a infield single by
Nicholas Baham. A groundball to third plated Woodard to cut the Catholic lead to 4-2. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, it was
Austin Henry who walked and stole second to get the Captains in scoring position again. Mason doubled down the left field line to score Henry, but CNU could not scratch across another run to tie the game.
In the final three innings, CNU stranded four runners on base as the offense failed to score the game-tying run and Catholic squeaked out the road win.
Clark was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk, reaching base in three of his five plate appearances. Woodard was 0-for-1 with four walks, including two intentional. DiNapoli led the track meet on the basepaths with three stolen bases after going 1-for-3 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored.
Christopher Newport is back in action on Wednesday, March 13 as the Captains travel to face Virginia Wesleyan University for a 3:00 pm first pitch.
