FERRUM, Va. -- Earning a season-opening series split at Ferrum College (1-1), the No. 32 Christopher Newport baseball team leaned on it's strong group of newcomers to carry the load on Sunday afternoon. The Captains picked up an 8-2 win on the road to improve to 1-1 with freshmen accounting for two runs in the third and four more in the decisive seventh inning. 

Alec Reilly and Jonathan Fisher were the two first-year players in the lineup that made a big impact on Sunday. Fisher got the Captains on the board with an RBI single in the third and Reilly added some much needed insurance in the seventh with his first career home run, a grand slam. Also excelling in their collegiate debuts were pitchers Dylan Weber and Connor Pennell who combined to give up one run on five hits over 6.2 innings of work while striking out seven. 

Christopher Newport never trailed in the game, taking a 3-0 lead after the top of the third and then adding five runs in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to six after Ferrum had scored twice.

Weber fell one out shy of recording his first career win as he came out of the game after retiring the first two batters he faced in the fourth inning. He struck out five batters and walked just one in his first start, facing 19 batters in 4.2 IP. Junior Nathan Clements (1-0) came on in relief and earned the win with 1.1 innings of work, striking out one before giving way to Pennell for his first career appearance in the seventh.

Pennell struck out the first batter he faced, allowed an infield single but promptly picked up the runner, and struck out the next batter. In the eighth, he went 1-2-3 against the Panthers to face the minimum six batters in his first outing. Rounding out the pitching performances for the Captains on Sunday was senior Teddy Herbert, striking out a pair in a perfect ninth inning of work. 

On the other side of the ball, the Captains got contributions up and down the lineup but it was Reilly's big blast in the seventh that highlighted the weekend. After reaching base all five plate appearances of his collegiate debut on Saturday, Reilly capped a memorable opening weekend with a bases loaded jack with one out in the seventh to give the Captains some breathing room. It capped a five-run seventh that also saw Trey Hicks drive in a run with a single into right field. 

Earlier in the game, the Captains took a 3-0 lead after Michael Martorano walked to lead off the third and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Conner Clark walked to bring up Fisher, who delivered the RBI single into right field. After moving up to third base on the hit, Clark would score on a balk and Fisher moved up to third base to set up an RBI groundout by Andrew Suppa. 

Fisher and Hicks each went 2-for-4 and Hicks added a walk to reach base three times. Clark was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks, 2 runs scored and his first stolen base of the season. The junior outfielder now has 64 career steals trailing Jeremy Elliott by just ten swipes for third all-time. Six Captains logged at least one hit and the team combined for nine walks after earning 12 free passes in game one. 

The Captains are off until Friday, February 14 when they open a busy weekend at Captains Park against Piedmont College and Roanoke College. The first game will be played at 2:00 p.m. on Friday against Piedmont with two more on Saturday and one game on Sunday. Live stats and video will be available for all four games as Christopher Newport plays in their home opener.