BUENA VISTA, Va. -- With a doubleheader sweep at Southern Virginia University on Saturday afternoon, the Christopher Newport baseball team extended it's home schedule by clinching the number two seed and earning hosting duties on the opening weekend of the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship Tournament. The Captains won 14-7 and 15-9 over the Knights on Saturday and improved to 18-8 overall, 10-4 in conference play. 

CNU will host a three-team pod in the C2C Tournament May 14-15 welcoming in the #3 and #4 seeds in the conference. Those two teams will be St. Mary's College of Maryland and Mary Washington University in a yet to be determined seeding. The full schedule can be found at the bottom of this page and on the baseball schedule page at C2Csports.com. 

The offense led the way in the doubleheader sweep as Christopher Newport piled up 29 runs on 35 hits in the twin bill. In game one, the top four batters in the lineup produced 10 of the 14 runs scored while driving in seven. In game two, it was a total team effort with seven starters registering multi-hit performances led by a 5-for-7 showing from Jonathan Fisher and a 3-hit, 5 RBI appearance by Jay Cassady. 

Early in the first game, it was the home team that took control as Southern Virginia led 6-1 after three innings. From there, however, it was all CNU with 13 runs compared to just a single SVU tally over the final six frames. The bullpen pitched well for the Captains, allowing just two runs on five hits over 7.1 innings of work. Colby Shriner (3-1) earned the win with 3.1 IP while Nathan Clements, Matt Gaither, and Jack Rosenberg each struck out the side in their single innings pitched. Gray Goodrich also appeared out of the pen in the eighth, facing just three batters in a clean frame. 

Offensively, Conner Clark started things off with a walk and two stolen bases. He pulled within two of Brian Gunn for the all-time program record in thefts and now has 88 in his career. He would trot home on a sacrifice fly from Eric O'Brien to score the first of four runs in the game and five on the day. Clark also moved up into a tie for second in career runs scored with 164, matching Jordan Mason's mark set in 2021 and trailing only the record of 201 by Matt Turner. 

The Captains comeback in game one was anchored by a six-run fifth inning, highlighted by a grand slam from Scott Crosson. The first career home run for Crosson cleared the bases and gave the Captains the lead for good. He finished the first game 2-for-4 with the 4 RBI and one run scored to lead the way while O'Brien also chipped in 4 runs batted in on a 2-for-3 showing at the dish. 

In game two, the offense jumped ahead with five runs in the top of the first, but Southern Virginia responded with four of their own in the bottom half. The game was tied, 7-7, after three, when the CNU bullpen again took control with just two more runs allowed while the offense plated eight. Danny Checkosky (1-0) earned his first win of the season while Gaither and Rosenberg returned to the mound to strike out five combined over the final three frames. 

In the top of the first, the Knights retired one before CNU ripped four straight singles to get on the board first courtesy of Cassady's two-run single. The rip extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 which stands as the longest roll for a freshman Captain since 1995 when Chris Martin put together a rookie record 14-game roll. He wasn't close to finishing with the first-inning knock as Cassady would go on to deliver two more base hits and drive in a season-best five runs in the game. The freshman left-handed hitter added an RBI double in the second and a two-run double to left in the sixth. Behind the 12-game hit streak, he has raised his season average to .394 and ranks second on the team in RBI (26). 

Cassady was not the only Captain rolling in game two as Fisher became the first player to notch five hits in a game this season. The Captains led, 10-9, heading into the final two innings when they scored four in the eighth and one more in the ninth. Leading the late charge was Brayden Hodges with a two-run single and back-to-back RBI doubles from Clark and Fisher. Hodges added another double, the seventh in the game for CNU, in the ninth inning. 

 Christopher Newport logged 23 hits in the second game with Fisher's five the headliner. Four different players had three hits -- Cassady, Crosson, Hodges, and Kyle Schofield -- and two more logged a pair of base knocks -- Eric O'Brien and Alec Reilly. Reilly drove in three while FIsher and Hodges each had two RBI behind Cassady's five RBI effort. 

The Captains will wrap up the regular season at home next Sunday, May 9 as they host St. Mary's COllege of Maryland. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for Senior Day as well as all the action in the doubleheader set to begin at 12:00 pm. 
 

Pod B (#2, #3, and #4 seeds) - at No. 2 Christopher Newport
Day 1 - Friday, May 14
Game 1 - #3 Seed vs. #4 Seed, 9 a.m. (#3 home)
Game 2 - #2 Chris. Newport vs. Game 1 Loser, 12:30 p.m. (#2 home)
Game 3 - #2 Chris. Newport vs. Game 1 Winner, 4 p.m. (#2 home)

Day 2 - Saturday, May 15 - IF THREE TEAMS REMAIN
Game 4 - #3 Seed vs. #5 Seed, 11 a.m. (#3 home)
Game 5 - #2 Seed vs. Game 4 Winner, 2 p.m. (#2 seed away if lower seed unbeaten)

Day 2 - Saturday, May 15 - IF TWO TEAMS REMAIN
Game 4 - 2-0 Team vs. 1-1 Team, 11 a.m. (unbeaten team home)
Game 5 (if necessary) - Same teams as Game 4, 2 p.m. (switch home/away)