NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Three Christopher Newport baseball players have been named to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's Players to Watch list released in the most recent issue of the publication. Fifth-year senior Conner Clark (OF), junior Kyle Schofield (DH), and sophomore Jay Cassady (LHP/1B) have each been designated as Division III players to watch for the 2022 campaign. 

Clark is returning to the top of the Captains' lineup for his final season after putting together a record-breaking career to this point. The all-time leader in stolen bases at Christopher Newport leads all active players in Division III in swipes and ranks sixth across all three NCAA divisions with 92. He also ranks 11th in Division III with 168 career runs scored and has climbed to second all-time at Christopher Newport. 

The left-handed center fielder is a .321 career hitter with 189 hits over his first four seasons. Clark has moved into the top-ten all-time in hits and is also tied for second all-time in sacrifice bunts. He is coming off a season in which he ranked third on the team in hitting with a .317 mark while stealing 17 bags in a shortened 34-game year. Clark was one of only two players to start all 34 games for the Captains and has been penciled in at the leadoff spot throughout his career. 

Starting at DH for the majority of his first season with the Captains, Kyle Schofield hit .306 with 33 hits including 11 for extra bases. He slugged .444 and reached base at a .420 clip to post the third highest OPS on the team. Schofield popped a pair of home runs with nine doubles and drove in 23 while scoring 23 times in the heart of the Captains' lineup. 

After earning ABCA All-Region accolades in his first season, Jay Cassady will return to the field having made history as the first freshman in program history to accomplish that feat. He contributed as both an offensive weapon and as a starting pitcher during the 2021 campaign and put together one of the finest rookie seasons ever at CNU. Cassady slashed a team-best .358/.632/.466 with 17 extra-base hits and 60 total bases. He led the team in average, doubles, homers, slugging, and OBP while ranking second on the team in RBI with 29. On the mound, Cassady was 2-4 with a save while posting a 4.23 ERA and striking out 50 in 44.2 innings pitched. 

Christopher Newport finished the 2021 season with a 22-12 overall record and advanced to the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship series.