NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The 18th-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team will get back to action on Saturday afternoon as the Captains (16-6, 0-0) host their first Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference matchup of the season at 2:00 p.m. CNU welcomes Mary Washington (18-6, 1-0) at Captains Park in conference play with live stats and a live video webcast available at CNUsports.com.
While the Captains will be opening league play, the Eagles opened up C2C action with an 11-9 win against Salisbury on March 30. The game was their last outing after a mid-week matchup against Stevenson was postponed. CNU has won five in a row including a Tuesday afternoon matchup against Pfeiffer with a 12-2 victory.
CNU moved up to No. 18 in the D3baseball.com Top 25 this week and will be taking on an Eagles squad that is receiving votes in the poll. It will be the 45th matchup all-time between the two teams with Christopher Newport holding a 33-11 advantage in the series. At home, CNU is 18-4 against the Eagles while Mary Washington picked up the most recent win, ending an eight-game streak by the Captains.
This season, CNU has a pair of pitchers ranked in the top-four nationally in total strikeouts as sophomore
Brandon Cassedy leads Division III with 72 K and fifth-year
Dylan Weber ranks fourth with 63 K. Cassedy also ranks ninth in total wins with five while Weber is 29th overall in earned-run average with a 1.41 mark.
The duo has anchored a pitching staff that has limited damage this season with a 2.77 team ERA. The Captains rank second nationally while leading the country in K/9 with 11.5.
Offensively, two Captains have started all 22 games this season in
Josh Reinhold and
Doc Daniels. Reinhold leads the team with 24 RBI and 24 runs scored while hitting .344 as the starting shortstop. Daniels is hitting .293 while driving in 20 and smacking eight extra-base hits this season.
Mary Washington will counter with an impressive pitching staff of their own, ranking 15th nationally in team ERA with a 3.41 mark. The offense also ranks in the top-50 nationally in total hits while hitting .317 as a group. Ty Lowe is hitting a team-high .379 while Bobby Ayscue has driven in a team-high 24 runs.
Following the Christopher Newport home game on Saturday, the Captains will welcome North Carolina Wesleyan on Tuesday, April 9 at 3:00 p.m.
