NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Christopher Newport will advance to play in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Series at top-seeded Salisbury next weekend after defeating Mary Washington on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles (11-16) defeated the second-seeded Captains, 7-5, in the first game to force a fifth and decisive game in the opening weekend pod of the C2C Tournament, but the Captains won the rubber match, 6-1. 

The Captains' pitching staff turned in a pair of sparkling starts in the two contests as rookies Jay Cassady and Jack Braley each posted impressive turns on the mound. Cassady settled for a no decision in the first game after striking out 10 while pitching into the seventh inning and Braley earned the win in the nightcap with just two hits allowed through 6.0 strong frames. 

After Mary Washington took the first game, the Captains turned to Braley for just his third career start. The freshman was in command from the beginning and put together his best outing of his debut season. Braley struck out two in the bottom of the first and worked out of trouble in the second with two more K's. With the second, he started a string of 14 straight retired batters that would run through the sixth inning. He walked the first batter he faced in the seventh, ending the perfect run at nearly two full turns around the order. 

Offensively, CNU scored two runs in the second on an RBI double by Scott Crosson and a run-scoring single by Ethan Weaver. Another run would score after Eric O'Brien walked and moved up to third on a double by Jay Cassady; he would then trot home on an RBI groundout by Alec Reilly. In the top of the fourth, Conner Clark delivered a sacrifice fly and in the sixth, two more came in as Reilly and Crosson added one more RBI apiece.

With two on in the 7th, Colby Shriner would come on in relief for the Captains and allowed just an RBI walk in his first frame while striking out three. He added two more K's to wrap up his performance with 2.0 IP, 5 K, 0 R, and 2 hits allowed. The Captains led, 6-1, heading into the final inning.

Play was halted after an emergency situation in the bottom of the ninth inning when a Mary Washington player was hit by an errant pitch to the head. After treatment by the Sports Medicine Staffs and Emergency Medical Technicians, the injured player was responsive and transported to the local hospital for further review. In a mutual agreement by the coaches and umpires, the game would not continue. 

Following the decision, Christopher Newport was declared the winning team and secured the program's second straight berth in the conference championship series. CNU won the 2019 Capital Athletic Conference Championship and will now compete for the first title under the league's new name, the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference. There was no 2020 championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first game was a classic pitchers' duel between Cassady and Mary Washington's Ty Lowe. For the first six innings, the game was locked at 1-1 with both starters keeping the opposing offenses off the basepaths. For CNU, Cassady was in a groove early and struck out a career-high 10 batters. He is the first true freshman to strike out 10 or more in a game since Brandon Taylor accomplished the feat at Greensboro in 2013 with 10 K's against the Pride. 

Cassady allowed just four hits and a walk while giving up two runs, one earned. He exited at the start of the seventh inning after allowing a one-out triple. Sophomore Danny Checkosky came on in relief and picked up the final two outs of the inning and Mary Washington led, shortly, 2-1. The CNU offense then teetered in front with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, courtesy of a big blast from Brayden Hodges. After Crosson scored moments earlier on a wild pitch, Hodges delivered a home run over the left center field wall to plate two more. 

The Eagles were not to be denied, however, scoring three runs on two hits in the top of the eighth to retake a one-run lead, 5-4. CNU responded with a sacrifice fly from Michael Martorano in the bottom half and the scored was locked at 5-5 headed to the last inning. Facing Jack Rosenberg (1-1), the Eagles manufactured a pair of runs with a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt preceding a two-run double by Lowe. The Captains weren't able to rally despite a pair of singles to lead off the bottom half of the ninth and the Eagles captured the win, 7-5. 

In the first game, four Captains logged two-hit performances highlighted by Hodges home run. Crosson, O'Brien, and Clark each added multi-hit showings for CNU. In the second game, Crosson continued his strong day with two more hits and a pair of RBI while Reily, Clark, and Jonathan Fisher each added two hits as well. 

The Captains will travel to Salisbury University, ranked No. 5 in the NCBWA/D3baseball.com Top 25, for a best-of-three championship series starting Friday, May 21 at 3:00 p.m. The two teams will play one game on Friday and one on Saturday with a third game scheduled, if necessary, for Saturday afternoon.