SALISBURY, Md. -- In a back-and-forth battle featuring two of the top-ranked teams in the nation, the Christopher Newport baseball team suffered a 6-5 loss in walk-off fashion on Saturday afternoon at the hands of second-ranked Salisbury University (27-4, 2-0). Taking on the Sea Gulls in Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference action, the Captains saw a six-game winning streak come to an end as CNU fell to 30-8 overall, 2-1 in C2C play. 

The Captains led 3-1 after three and 5-3 after four-and-a-half, but Salisbury answered to tie the game at 5-all after five innings. The bullpens took control from there, surrendering just a single run combined over the last four innings of work. 

The hosts struck first, scoring on a solo home run in the bottom of the first, but it was the only blemish for Jackson Baird the first time through the lineup. The Captains' sophomore retired the side in order in the second before his offense put three on the board in support to take a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the third, Baird loaded the bases with nobody out, but wiggled out of the jam with a line-drive double play and a groundball out to strand a pair. 

In the top of the third, Ayden Stuffel singled through the right side to lead off the inning and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sam Benedict. Justin Liakos drove in the game-tying run with a double down the right field line and then came in on a single by Josh Reinhold to take the lead. The line kept moving as Zach Dzarnowski singled up the middle, bringing up Justin Bowers with runners at first and second. Bowers squared up the first pitch he saw and pounded a double to deep center field; the Captains suffered an unlucky bounce as the ball skipped over the wall allowing just one of the two would-be runs to score. Still, CNU took a 3-1 lead against the Sea Gulls heading into the middle innings. 

The teams then traded two-run frames for three straight half-innings as Salisbury tied the game at three, CNU took a 5-3 edge, and the Sea Gulls responded with two more to tie it at five. 

In the top of the fifth, the Captains took what would prove to be their final lead of the game when Reinhold led off with a single and Dzarnowski reached on an error. With one out, senior Alec Reilly stepped in and put the Captains on top with his team-leading 36th RBI of the season. The left-handed batter smashed a shot up the middle to plate Reinhold and move Dzarnowski up to third. Jake Benedict then gave another run of insurance with an infield single to the right side, giving the Captains a 5-3 edge. 

Baird started the bottom of the fifth with a flyball out before the next two batters reached. After getting ahead of the next batter, the Salisbury first baseman fought off a high fastball, sneaking a game-tying two-run double off the chalk line in right field. Stuffel collected the bounding ball in the corner and hit Liakos for a perfect relay, cutting down the runner at third. One batter later, Baird made an incredible play on a scary liner right back up the middle, batting down the ball and recovering to make the inning-ending toss to first base with the score knotted at 5-5. 

Both teams went to the bullpen in the sixth, as Baird and Salisbury starter Jimmy Adkins left with no decisions. Jack Braley was exceptional in 2.1 innings of work for the Captains, retiring the middle of the Salisbury lineup without issue int he seventh after working around a two-out walk in the sixth. CNU then called on Danny Checkosky (1-1) with runners at the corners and one out in the eighth.

Salisbury tried some trickery with a squeeze play on the first pitch to the plate, but the bunt went right to Justin Bowers at first and the senior fired a strike to the plate for the out. Checkosky then ended the inning with a strikeout. 

CNU got a two-out single from Dzarnowski in the top of the ninth, but nothing else as the home team came to the plate against Checkosky. A lead-off double set up the game-winning hit by Kavi Caster, an RBI single through the right side to walk it off against CNU in the bottom of the ninth. 

Stuffel had the best day for the Captains offensively, going 4-for-4 with a run scored. Liakos mashed a pair of doubles in four at-bats while Reinhold and Dzarnowski each had two-hit appearances as well. CNU piled up 13 hits in the game as all but two starters collected at least one hit. 

CNU and Salisbury are scheduled to close out the regular season this Wednesday, May 3 as the teams return to Captains Park for the finale. First pitch will be thrown out by the Captains at 3:00 p.m. with live stats and live video available at CNUsports.com.