ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. -- The 13th-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team will get back in action on Tuesday as the Captains (21-7) travel to No. 24 North Carolina Wesleyan University for a nationally-ranked non-conference matchup. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. against the Battling Bishops (25-10) as CNU makes a return trip in the home-and-home series that saw CNU earn an 8-5 win at Captains Park earlier this season.
CNU will be playing for the first time in a week after earning an 18-3 win on the road at Eastern Mennonite last Tuesday. The break in the schedule sets up a busy finish for Christopher Newport who will also host Washington and Lee on Thursday and hit the road for Mary Washington on Saturday to wrap up a three-game week.
The Captains and Battling Bishops are matching up for the 104th time in the all-time series, marking the longest standing rivalry in CNU baseball history. The Captains trail the series, 46-57, but have won seven in a row against N.C. Wesleyan dating back to March 12, 2021 when the Bishops last captured a home win against CNU.
CNU has won two in a row and 10 of their last 11 games this season while vaulting to No. 13 in the D3baseball.com national rankings. The Captains have scored in double figures in three of the last four outings and are hitting .309 for the season with a .452 slugging percentage. The Captains rank in the top 50 in the country in scoring, averaging 8.6 runs per game, led by sophomore
Josh Reinhold (.376, 32 R, 29 RBI) and junior
Lincoln Lubsen (.333, 24 R, 35 RBI). The lineup also features veterans
Zach Dzarnowski (.337, 20 R, 25 RBI),
Doc Daniels (.333, 22 R, 30 RBI), and
Scott Crosson (.337, 22 R, 15 RBI) to help pace the potent attack.
On the mound, Christopher Newport leads the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (11.4) and ranks seventh in team ERA (3.38) so far this season. The Captains pitching staff is anchored by fifth-year senior star
Dylan Weber (6-1, 1.74 ERA, 88 SO) and sophomore
Brandon Cassedy (6-2, 3.81 ERA, 86 SO) as the pair rank in the top-five nationally in strikeouts this season. Senior
Jack Braley (3-0, 4.33 ERA) has started seven games this season and provides depth in the rotation while the bullpen features three arms who have reached double-figure pitching appearances this season. Senior right-hander
Kyle Lewis is 2-0 with four saves this Spring while striking out 25 batters in 16 innings pitched without surrendering an earned run.
Danny Checkosky has appeared in 10 games wih a 1.64 ERA and
Christian Williams has also appeared ten times with a 2.25 ERA.
In the first matchup against the Bishops this season, the Captains pulled out an 8-5 win at home with Weber on the hill, striking out 12. Lubsen smacked a home run in the game while Reinhold, Daniels, and
Ayden Stuffel each delivered multi-hit efforts.
N.C. Wesleyan remains in the top-25 rankings and have won six of seven since the outing against CNU with sweeps over Methodist and Mary Baldwin. The Bishops are led by one of the nation's leading hitters in Tyson Bass, who became the first ever player in the program to register 40 career home runs and 80 stolen bases. He ranks in the top-ten nationally in home runs with 13 and is hitting .347 on the season. On the mound, Cord Butler ranks eighth nationally in strikeouts with 81 and has piled up eight wins for the pitching staff.
Live coverage of the game will be available through links on the CNUsports.com website when made available.
Following Tuesday's outing, CNU will return to Captains Park for a home game against Washington and Lee University this Thursday, April 25 at 3:00 p.m.
