SALISBURY, Md. -- After nearly toppling the third-ranked Salisbury Sea Gulls just two days ago, the Christopher Newport baseball team carried that momentum into Friday's rematch and earned a 10-4 win in Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference action. CNU became the first team this season to score more than six runs in a game against Salisbury as they blasted three home runs, all with runners on, to power past the Sea Gulls.

Sophomore Brayden Hodges led the charge with a run-scoring walk in the third and a grand slam to seal the win in the top of the ninth. He finished the game with a pair of hits, 5 runs batted in, a walk, and a run scored. His bases clearning blast was the third round-tripper of the game for the Captains as Jonathan Fisher and Kyle Schofield each smashed two-run shots earlier in the game.

With the victory, Christopher Newport snapped a seven-game Salisbury win streak as the home team fell to 11-2 with a 5-1 mark in C2C action. The Captains bounced back and improved to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in league play.

In the first game between the two programs on Wednesday, the Captains saw Salisbury attempt nine stolen bases with three caught. On Friday, the CNU pitching staff kept the baserunners close to the bag and faced no stolen base attempts against one of the best teams in the nation at ripping them off. The Sea Gulls ranked seventh in the nation in SB per game heading into the Friday matchup.

Instead, the Friday bout turned into a battle of the blasts with five combined home runs and four doubles between the two teams. Salisbury took an early lead, 3-1, after two frames, but CNU answered with a three-run third and two more in the top of the fourth. With a 6-3 lead, senior starter Josh Husby (4-0) settled in and allowed just one run in his final four frames of work to put the Captains bullpen in position for the win. Danny Checkosky came on for two innings of relief and escaped a tough jam in the bottom of the eighth with a huge strikeout and Matt Gaither finished out the win after being staked to the six-run lead following Hodges' grand slam.

Conner Clark started the scoring for Christopher Newport after a lead-off single in the top of the first. He moved up on a sacrifice bunt and raced home on an RBI single by Scott Crosson. In the third, Clark bunted to lead off with another single, setting up Fisher's team-leading third home run of the season. He blistered a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left center field to tie the game up at 3-3.

Schofield was hit by a pitch and Crosson singled to second base. After the Sea Gulls recorded the second out, Jay Cassady walked to load the bases. Taking advantage of the errant pitching, Christopher Newport took the lead, 4-3, on Hodges' free pass one batter later. The next inning, the middle of the lineup gave Husby all the support he needed when Eric O'Brien singled and Schofield delivered a bomb to left field.

Matt Padeway homered in the next inning to make it 6-4, but the Captains pitching staff took control from there. Husby retired the side in order in the fifth and worked around a one-out double in the sixth to close out his sixth straight outing of six innings or more. He finished with four strikeouts and one walk while allowing four earned runs on six hits.

In the top of the ninth inning, the Sea Gulls looked poised to avoid trouble when the Salisbury reliever induced a double play, but an error by the pitcher extended the inning. Alec Reilly and Jay Cassady then walked to load the bases for Hodges when the fateful blow came to fruition, a shot to left field. With a 10-4 lead, rookie Matt Gaither came on and worked through a clean ninth, including retiring a pair of the Sea Gulls most dangerous hitters in Justin Meekins and Kavi Caster.

Four Captains posted multi-hit games while Cassady managed just one hit in two official at-bats but added three walks. Clark, O'Brien, Crosson, and Hodges each posted two hits.

The rubber match of the mid-season series comes Saturday at Noon as Salisbury hosts Christopher Newport in the third of eventually four conference matchups this season. Live stats and video are available.