NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- After a thrilling matchup against the second-ranked Sea Gulls of Salisbury University on Saturday afternoon, the Captains will welcome the conference rival to Newport News on Wednesday afternoon to wrap up the Christopher Newport baseball regular season at 3:00 p.m.

CNU suffered a 6-5 loss with a walk-off win for the host Sea Gulls on Saturday following a terrific back-and-forth battle between the two top-ten ranked programs. This week, Christopher Newport slipped to No. 9 in the ABCA Top 25 and back to No. 10 in the D3baseball.com national rankings. Salisbury held its position in both polls, ranked No. 2 in the nation while taking a half-game lead on Christopher Newport in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference standings. 

The Captains will enter the matchup with a 30-8 overall record including a 2-1 mark in conference play. Salisbury is taking on No. 14 Randolph-Macon College at 3:30 on Tuesday, but their overall record prior to that pairing is 27-4, 2-0. 

Live stats and a live video webcast will be available at CNUsports.com 

Heading into the final regular season game of the year, the Captains have been led by a trio of newcomers offensively, including the scalding hot bat of Ayden Stuffel. The freshman outfielder has a nine-game hitting streak rolling and has recorded multiple hits in 10 of the last 18 games played; he now leads the Captains in hitting with a .384 average, the second highest mark by a rookie in program history. Rookie Josh Reinhold (.362) and sophomore transfer Zach Dzarnowski (.360) have also been tough outs all season long for opposing pitchers, including a nearly 3:1 BB/K ratio for Dzarnowski. 

On the mound, senior lefty Dylan Weber (6-2) and sophomore Jackson Baird (6-1) lead the team in victories and strikeouts this season. Baird threw 5.0 innings against the Sea Gulls in a start on Saturday before giving way to junior Jack Braley (4-0) for 2.1 innings of relief. Braley has been impressive this season, ranking fifth in Division III in ERA with a 1.12 mark over 40.0 innings pitched. Weber leads the squad with 76 strikeouts in 55.1 innings pitched and continues to climb the Captains' all-time charts in nearly every pitching category. 

Danny Sheeler is leading the Salisbury attack with a .438 average while Kavi Caster isn't far behind with a .408 average after hitting the game-winning single against CNU. Both players have nine home runs while Jacob Ference has a team-high 11 homers. Jackson Balzan (7-1) leads the rotation with a 3.23 ERA in nine starts while striking out 49 batters in 47.1 innings pitched. 

Following Wednesday's matchup, the Captains will await the conference tournament seeding and location announcement. Games will be played at the top seed in the C2C Tournament from May 12-14.