NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- For the second straight season, the second-seeded Christopher Newport baseball team will play host to a three-team opening round pod of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament as action gets underway starting at 9:00 am Friday. Three games are scheduled to be played at Captains Park on Friday with the first being a neutral site battle between #3 York College of Pennsylvania (25-14) and #5 Mary Washington (14-20), followed by a doubleheader for #2 Christopher Newport (30-6). 

The double-elimination format will pit the lower two seeds against eachother in a 9:00 am game to determine the Captains opponents for the second and third games of the day. Tentatively scheduled for 12:30 pm, CNU will first take on the losing team from game one followed by a 4:00 pm start against the winning team. If no teams are eliminated on Friday, York and Mary Washington will take the field again at 11:00 am on Saturday with the winning team advancing to face CNU in a 2:30 pm start. If only two teams remain, the Saturday games will remain as scheduled with the second being an "if necessary" contest. 

The team that advances out of the Newport News pod will take on the winner of the Salisbury, Md. pod which features top-seeded Salisbury, #4 Penn State Harrisburg and #6 Southern Virginia. The two advancing teams will play in a best-of-three championship series at the higher seed remaining next weekend. 

Admission will be charged for fans attending the games at Captains Park with ticket prices set at $5 for adults and $3 for children. For fans unable to attend live, a video webcast and live stats will be available on the CNUsports.com website with links found on the baseball schedule page. 

Heading into the weekend, the Captains wrapped up regular season play with a 30-6 overall record and are ranked No. 2 in the nation in both the ABCA and D3baseball.com national polls. Featuring the nation's leading scoring offense at 12.2 runs per game, the Captains have scored 439 runs while leading the nation in on-base percentage and ranking second in slugging percentage. 

Pacing the dangerous attack has been the corner infielders for the Captains as seniors Nicholas Baham and Seth Woodard are putting up historic individual campaigns. Baham, hitting a career-high .348, set the program's single season record for home runs with 19 and leads the nation in long balls. He also has driven in 59 runs, which ranks tied for seventh all-time at CNU and is just nine RBI shy of the program record. Woodard, hitting .331, set the program's single season record for walks to help lead a patient lineup to over 250 free passes this season. Woodard also has 9 HR and 54 RBI, both second on the team. 

On the mound, sophomore Josh Husby (8-1) leads the league in wins and ranks third in total strikeouts with 66 in 62.0 innnings of work. Husby boasts a 3.19 ERA at the top of CNU's rotation and has helped the Captains' pitching staff post a opponents batting average against of just .236. Also bolstering that number is a dominant bullpen led by senior Austin Slough (1-0, 2.89 ERA), junior Brian Owens (2-1, 1.93 ERA), and sophomore Tyler Jumper (5-0, 0.78 ERA). Jumper has struck out 33 batters in 34.2 IP while Owens and Slough have combined to strike out 60 in just 46.2 IP. 

CNU welcomed both York and Mary Washington to Captains Park for three game series earlier this year. The Captains swept the Eagles before taking two of three from York in the conference finale last weekend. 

York (Pa.) features one of the nation's top offenses, averaging just under nine runs per game and ranking 20th nationally. Senior center fielder Grant Oberholtzer is hitting .350 with 7 HR and 34 RBI while ranking in the top five nationally in runs scored with 54. Rookie shortstop Austin Denlinger has had a stellar freshman campaign with a .377 average while leading the team with 60 hits. 

Mary Washington is led by the league's leader in strikeouts as Hank Biggs (7-5) comes into Friday's opening round with a 3.45 ERA and 71 strikeouts while pitching 91.1 innings this season. Offensively, seniors Tyler Ray and Kevin France have led the attack while junior Garrett Lyons has a team best .293 average. Ray has 15 extra-base hits and 16 RBI while France has hit .289 with 13 doubles.