HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The D3baseball.com national rankings were released on Monday evening ahead of the Tuesday afternoon road trip to Eastern Mennonite University and the Captains of Christopher Newport moved up to No. 13 in the Week 8 poll. CNU will hit the road for a 4:00 p.m. first pitch against the Royals on Tuesday with their new billing in tact after logging a 20-7 overall record so far this season.
The Captains have won nine of their last ten with the lone setback coming at the hands of Salisbury University, ranked No. 5 in the nation. CNU is coming off a 10-0 shutout victory at William Peace on Sunday to earn the 20th win of the season, marking the eighth straight season that the team has reached the 20-win plateau.
The top five in week eight is led by top-ranked Endicott with 15 first-place votes and Denison, ranked No. 2 and earning eight first-place votes. Baldwin-Wallace is ranked third, followed by East Texas Baptist, and Salisbury, in order.
As a team, the Captains are hitting .304 so far this season while slugging .447 as a group. The lineup has been well-balanced this season with four Captains driving in 20 or more runs and five CNU players scoring at least 20 times in 27 games this season. Sophomore
Josh Reinhold is hitting a team-high .365 with 12 extra-base hits and 28 RBIi with 28 runs scored. Junior
Doc Daniels, the only other CNU player to start all 27 games this season, is hitting .330 with 12 extra-base hits, 27 RBI, and 21 runs scored.
The Captains have gotten great production from others as well, including rookie
Jacob Koenig hitting .364 in 12 games played. Taking over a starting spot in each of the last six games, Koenig has scored nine times while adding seven RBI in that stretch. Sophomore
Ayden Stuffel has caught fire after an early season slump and raised his batting average over 40 points with base hits in nine of the last ten games.
On the pitching mound, Christopher Newport has three players who have combined for 25 of the 27 starts this season and have posted a 15-3 record together.
Dylan Weber is 6-1 with a 1.74 ERA,
Brandon Cassedy is 6-2 with a 3.81 ERA, and
Jack Braley has added a 3-0 ledger with a 4.46 ERA. The bullpen has been anchored by All-Region right-hander
Kyle Lewis, who has appeared in 13 games without surrendering an earned run while striking out 24.
Daniel Elliott and
Colin D'Arcy have recently returned after injuries and have been impressive in 7.1 innings of combined relief.
Eastern Mennonite and the Captains matched up early this season with CNU holding on late for an 8-7 win at home. CNU is 16-3-2 all-time against the royals while riding a seven-game winning streak.
The Royals are 10-18 heading into today's matchup after a weekend series against Guilford. Alex Gulisano leads the attack, hitting .410 with a 1.046 OPS. He also has nine stolen bases as the Royals frequently run on the basepaths with 68 total thefts as a team. Nick Arnold leads the team with 19 stolen bases in 20 attempts while also hitting .377 for the Eastern Mennonite offense.
Following the Tuesday afternoon showdown, the Captains were scheduled to travel to Pfeiffer University on Thursday but that game has since been canceled. The next outing for CNU will be on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:00 pm at nationally-ranked North Carolina Wesleyan.
