NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Eric O'Brien fell just one hit shy of the cycle and three Captains delivered multi-RBI performances but the pitching staff stole the headline on Sunday as five Captains combined to strike out 16 Virginia Wesleyan batters in a 12-4 victory. Christopher Newport improved to 3-1 with the win, earned in relief by rookie Matt Gaither (1-0) who struck out four in two innings of work. 

In total, the Captains pitching staff allowed just six hits in the game while striking out 16. Freshman starter Jay Cassady tossed the first four innings and struck out eight for the Captains. He gave way to freshman Danny Checkosky for the fifth, who struck out a pair in his lone inning of work.

From there, CNU called on rookie Matt Gaither who was nothing short of stellar, kicking things off with a three-pitch strikeout. He then allowed a walk, but quickly disposed of that runner with a nice pick-off move to catch Ryan Ballard stealing. One pitch later, Gaither finished his first inning with a groundout to short. He came back out for the seventh and struck out the top three batters in the order in order for an effective two frames. With his strong performance, Gaither earned his first career win. 

Rounding out the overall strong pitching performance was Gray Goodrich in the eighth, striking out one, and Colby Shriner in the ninth, with one punchout as well. 

Offensively, the Captains had three players post multi-hit performances highlighted by O'Brien's three-hit performance. After a walk and a strikeout in his first two at-bats, O'Brien singled, doubled, and tripled while driving in three. Jonathan Fisher was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, reaching base in four plate appearances with 2 runs and 2 RBI. Michael Martorano added a 2-for-5 showing with a two-run triple.

The Captains scored seven runs from the second through the fourth innings before Virginia Wesleyan answered with four of their own. The home team would open it up again in the late innings with one scored in the seventh and four more runs in their final at-bat. 

In the second inning, Keegan Doyle and Ethan Weaver earned a pair of two-out walks to set up a run-scoring double by Conner Clark. Then Fisher delivered a hard shot up the middle to plate two more runs. After tacking on a run in the third, taking advantage of a Marlins miscue, CNU added three more in the fourth. Weaver walked again and Fisher joined him two batters later. With two on, O'Brien powered a tailing drive over the right fielder's head for a two-run double. 

In the eighth, O'Brien added an RBI triple and then scored on a passed ball. Daniel Elliott reached after getting hit by a pitch and Scott Crosson doubled to left field to bring up Michael Martorano with two on and one out. The junior blistered a line drive into the corner and sprinted 270 feet to third for a two-run triple, rounding out the scoring for the Captains. 

CNU will be back in action on Tuesday, March 9 as they host Hampden-Sydney College at 2:00 pm. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available at CNUsports.com