NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Opening up conference tournament play with a bang, the second-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team put together a pair of dominant victories on the first day of the 2019 CAC Baseball Championship. The Captains (32-6) eliminated #3-seeded York (Pa.) in their first game of the day, 8-1, behind a terrific starting outing by
Josh Husby (9-1) before blowing by #5-seeded Mary Washington in game two, 19-7.
York suffered a 16-6 loss in the day's first game against Mary Washington to go 0-2 and close out their tournament appearance with a 25-16 overall record. The Eagles split their two contests and are now 15-21 heading into the pod final on Saturday morning against CNU at 11:00 am. In the double elimination format, CNU will advance to the final with one win on Saturday while Mary Washington will need to win two.
While the potent Captains offense has carried Christopher Newport all season long, it was a stellar pitching outing that kicked off postseason play for CNU in 2019. Sophomore
Josh Husby improved to 9-1 on the season with one of the finest starts of his career against the Spartans. The right-handed arm struck out seven batters and scattered just four hits over 7.0 innings of work while keeping York off balance throughout the game.
Husby retired the side in order the first time through the lineup, and turned away 13 batters before giving up his first hit in the top of the fourth. He allowed just two singles through five frames and then gave up a double in the sixth but stranded a pair of runners. Brandon White spoiled his shutout bid in the top of the seventh with a two-out solo home run, but Husby closed his outing allowing just two runners past first base in the game.
Offensively, the Captains staked their sophomore ace to a four-run lead that would be plenty of runs in the bottom of the first. Patience at the plate paid off as
Seth Woodard,
Nick DiNapoli, and
Nicholas Baham all walked to load the bases for
Jordan Mason. The senior outfielder then delivered a double to right center to plate the first two runs before
Trey Hicks added another on a sacrifice fly. Wrapping up the scoring in the inning,
Ryan Grubbs pounded a hard hit single through the left side to score Mason and give CNU a 4-0 advantage.
Grubbs drove in four runs in the first game, going 3-for-4 to pace the Captains attack. Mason was 3-for-3 with a walk, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.
The offense carried momentum into game two, facing the upset-minded Mary Washington squad that stunned York with 16 runs in the first game. The Eagles jumped ahead of CNU, 2-1, and then again 7-5 as the two lineups battled back and forth, but it was the Captains bullpen that slowed Mary Washington to lead to the win. CNU scored eight runs in the first three innings, six in the middle-third, and another five runs in the final three frames to pull away from Mary Washington for a blowout tournament win, 19-7.
The power bats were in play for the Captains as they hit five home runs and delivered two doubles. DiNapoli and Hicks each pounded out a pair of home runs while Grubbs delivered a no-doubt solo shot to left to lead off the second. Hicks had a fantastic performance, going 5-for-6 with 3 RBI and 5 runs scored, becoming just the fifth player in program history to score five times in a game. He is the second to accomplish the feat this season as DiNapoli scored five times at Hampden-Sydney, while the duo joined Kevin Burton, Matt Turner, Keith Windle, and
Seth Woodard. In Friday's game, DiNapoli was also 3-for-6 with 5 RBI and 3 runs scored.
Seven Captains finished with multi-hit games including a perfect 3-for-3 day with a walk from
Conner Clark. Grubbs had a sensational performance in the doubleheader, reaching base in eight of his ten plate appearances to add to his national-leading on-base percentage. He was 5-for-7 with 3 walks, 5 RBI, 1 HR, 2 2b, and 2 runs scored. Grubbs now owns a .634 on-bsae percentage for the season.
On the mound, sophomore
Gray Goodrich (2-0) picked up the win in relief with five strong innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out five after taking over to start the bottom of the third. In a mirror image to Husby's start, Goodrich retired the first 13 batters he faced before allowing a single into right field to break up his no-hit appearance. The sophomore right-hander worked around the base hit with ease to finish out the 7th inning with just the one hit surrendered on the day, facing only one batter more than the minimum.
Christopher Newport, ranked No. 2 in the nation, scored 27 runs on the day to set a new program scoring record. Breaking the 2002 mark of 443 runs set over 53 games, the Captains have now scored 466 runs in just 38 contests.
The Captains and Eagles will take the field at 11:00 am on Saturday morning at Captains Park. The winning team of the Newport News pod will advance to the best-of-three championship series next weekend.
