NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Led by another standout pitching performance from sophomore
Jackson Baird (5-1), the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team earned a 6-2 win over St. Mary's College of Maryland on Tuesday afternoon. Baird struck out 10 over 7.0 innings of work to help the Captains improve to 26-7 overall this season.
On the mound, Baird needed just eight pitches and less than four minutes to get through the top of the first inning with a pair of strikeouts surrounding a groundball out in what was a preview of the rest of his game on the hill. He struck out two in the third, fifth, and seventh and also used his defense with an inning-ending double play in the sixth.
It was the second time this season that Baird has reached double-digit strikeouts and moved him into the team lead with 59 K's for the year. He improved to 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA after allowing two runs on four hits in seven innings of work.
In relief, the Captains called on
Danny Checkosky and
Kyle Lewis to keep the eighth and ninth innings clean. Checkosky retired the side in order with one strikeout in the eighth and Lewis, making his team-leading 18th appearance, worked around a lead-off infield single to close out the game with a pair of pop-ups and a punchout.
Offensively, the Captains rapped five doubles and ten total hits against the Seahawks, scoring two runs in the first and second inning before adding single spots in the third and fourth frames.
Justin Bowers led the way with a pair of doubles while
Alec Reilly drove in a couple for CNU.
The offense got going right out of the gate as
Scott Crosson set the table with a double to the gap in left center on the very first pitch of the game for CNU. He then moved up on a fly ball to right field and scored when Bowers found grass in left field for a two-base RBI knock. After working the count full, Reilly would follow with a laser down the right field line for the third double of the first inning, plating Bowers to take a 2-0 lead.
In the second,
Sam Benedict led things off with a hard-hit single through the infield and moved up on a walk by
Ethan Weaver. Crosson then beat out an infield single with a bunt attempt back to the pitcher to load the bases and bring up
Josh Reinhold. A groundball plated the first of two runs in the inning before
Zach Dzarnowski added an RBI single up the middle for the second.
St. Mary's cracked back with a pair against Baird in the third, but CNU rallied for single runs in the third and fourth to hold onto the four-run lead the rest of the way.
Jake Benedict scored on an error in the third and Reilly added his second RBI with a sacrifice fly to left in the fourth.
Defensively, the Captains were sound behind the pitching staff as Reilly made a nice running catch in left field on a hard-hit ball to the corner and Weaver made a highlight-reel snag in the top of the ninth on a pop-up down the line. The ball was lofted into the air but tailed toward the foul line creating a long run for the second baseman away from the infield -- the veteran at the keystone then made a diving play to snag the out late in the game. He was also a part of a textbook double play up the middle in the sixth when Reinhold found him for the exchange and fired across to first to end the inning.
Patience at the plate continues to be a theme for the success of this Captains' lineup as well, as Christopher Newport worked six walks in the game. They eclipsed the 200-walk plateau and continue to lead Division III in free passes this season. CNU has now walked 205 times in 2023, sitting as the fifth most in program history.
The Captains will return to action on Thursday, April 13 as they play host to Virginia Wesleyan University at 3:00 p.m.
