NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The second-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team showed off the depth of their formidable offense again on Sunday, dropping the York College of Pennsylvania Spartans (25-12, 14-7) in dominating fashion, 21-4. Ten different Captains earned a base hit as the Captains went 7-for-7 in conference series this year, improving to 30-5 overall and 17-3 in league play. 

The 30-win season is the second straight and sixth in the history of the program. All have come under head coach John Harvell who has now finished first or second in the league standings ten times in his 19 seasons. 

In Sunday's series finale against the Spartans, the Captains fell behind, 2-0, after the first two innings. CNU scored one in the fourth on a bases loaded walk before blowing the game open with a nine-run fifth. 

Leading off the breakout inning was senior Nicholas Baham, blistering his fifth home run of the weekend to tie the game. Baham was resilient in the 10-pitch at-bat, fouling off seven pitches before finally getting one he liked and crushing it to deep center field. Four of his five blasts against York either gave the Captains the lead or tied the game like his solo shot on Sunday. The senior right-handed hitter has now hit at least one homer in each of the last five games as well as seven of the last nine contests. 

After Baham knotted the game with his roundtripper to lead off the fifth, the Captains batted around the lineup behind him. Jordan Mason singled up the middle and scored two batters later as Joseph Cutchins drove in the go-ahead run with a double into left field. Three straight free passes with John Anderson and Conner Clark getting drilled to sandwich an Austin Henry walk brought in another run before Seth Woodard stepped in with the bases loaded and one out. Woodard hammered a hard shot down the line to clear the bases with a two-base hit. Woodard now has 54 RBI on the year, ranking second on the team and in the top ten in program history. 

Not finished, Baham was intentionally walked for the second time this weekend to bring up Mason for his second at-bat of the inning. The senior center fielder made the Spartans pay for walking Baham with a three-run blast to right field for his third home run of the season. The blast capped the nine-run frame that gave CNU a 10-2 lead. 

Sophomore Carter Strain (1-0) was the benefactor of the big inning as the reliever earned his first career victory. The second-year righty tossed two innings with just two hits allowed and a walk while striking out one. 

CNU took advantage of a tough day on the mound for York as the Spartans issued 21 free passes to the patient Captains lineup. CNU worked 14 walks and were hit by seven pitches during the game. After the nine-run inning, the Captains added one more in the sixth before another big inning in the seventh as CNU scored 10 against the Spartans bullpen. 

Mason and Ryan Grubbs led things off with back-to-back walks before Cutchins singled in a run. Pinch hitter J.T. Bellotti stepped in and delivered an RBI base hit into left field, chasing the first pitcher of the inning. Austin Henry made it three straight RBI singles off the new pitcher, John Szwajkowski, before Trey Hicks stepped in and delivered another big blow with a three-run blast. Woodard kept the line moving with a walk, followed by an infield single by Nick DiNapoli to bring up the hottest bat in the lineup. 

Baham, who extended his RBI streak to nine games, smashed a double into right field to plate a run for his 10th run batted in of the week. That knock chased Szwajkowski and brought in A.J. Vincenzi as the third arm of the inning for York. Mason welcomed him to the game with an RBI double and Grubbs drove in a pair with a single, capping the run scoring in the inning for CNU. 

The 21 runs marks the third time this season the Captains have scored at least 20 runs in a game and also serves as the 25th double-figure scoring performance of the season. The nation's leading offense is now averaging 12.5 runs per game and, despite playing just 35 games, is just six runs shy of the program record for runs scored in a season. 

In the game, Mason led the Captains with a 3-for-5 effort and a pair of walks, driving in four and scoring four times. Woodard also added 4 RBI while going 1-for-3 with two walks. Baham, DiNapoli, and Cutchins each had multi-hit performances for the vaunted CNU attack. 

On the mound, Kyle Darmstead tossed two innings of one-hit relief after Strain before making way for the two senior pitchers on this year's squad. First, Corey Williams gave up just one hit while striking out one in the eighth before Austin Slough punctuated his final career home regular season appearance with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the side. 

On Senior Day, all 12 seniors factored into the game. 

Christopher Newport will now turn their focus to the postseason as the number two seed in next week's opening round pod of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament. Action begins Friday, May 3 and CNU will play in Game 2 of the pod, scheduled for 12:30 pm against the losing team between #3-seed York (Pa.) and the yet to be determined #5-seed, who will play at 9:00 am. The Captains are scheduled to play a doubleheader in tournament action on Friday, and will host the Game 1 winner at 4:00 pm.