KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- After opening the season with eight consecutive victories, the Christopher Newport baseball win streak was snapped at the D3 Showcase after the Captains fell to No. 18 Denison, 8-3. The Captains matched the second longest season-opening win streak in program history before suffering the teams first loss of the year on Saturday.
The Big Red opened their season on Friday with a 6-5 win over Berry before holding Christopher Newport to just three hits on Saturday. Starting pitcher Nate Falter was tapped out after five no-hit frames against the Captains with just two walks surrendered.
Denison scored three in the second and picked up two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings. CNU got on the board in the top of the seventh, but the Big Red answered with another run in the bottom half. CNU finally scratched two more across in the top of the ninth, but the late rally would fall short as the Captains fell by five runs.
Jackson Baird (1-1) suffered the loss in his second career start after allowing seven runs, five earned, over 5.0 innings pitched. He struck out five batters in the outing but the nationally-ranked Denison offense took advantage of an error in the second to get on the board, providing Falter (1-0) all he the run support he would need.
In relief,
Jack Braley tossed two innings with just one run allowed on three hits while striking out three.
David Gingras finished out the effort on the mound by keeping Denison off the board in the bottom of the eighth with one strikeout.
Offensively,
Alec Reilly and
Josh Reinhold each picked up walks the first trip around the lineup, but the Captains stranded the base runners. In the seventh, Reilly led off with a double and came around to score on an RBI single by
Jake Benedict one batter later.
CNU showed off some resiliency in the top of the ninth after Denison recorded two quick outs but the Captains would not go quietly.
Ethan Weaver kickstarted a mini-run with a walk and
Drew Caroline reached on an error to chase in a CNU run.
Sam Benedict then reached on another error and Caroline came around to score.
Reilly and Reinhold each reached base twice in the game to lead the way for CNU.
Jake Benedict picked up the only RBI while Reilly, Weaver, and Caroline each represented the runs scored.
Christopher Newport will have little time to reflect on their first loss of the season as they set out to take on No. 6 Marietta College on Sunday afternoon. First pitch against the Etta Express is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Live stats, a live audio webcast, and a live video stream are all available for Sunday's contest with links found at CNUsports.com.
