BRIDGEWATER, Va. -- The nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team will get back on the diamond on Wednesday as the Captains (4-3) will travel to Bridgewater College (4-1) to face the Eagles in a return trip as part of the home-and-home series this season. The two teams already matched up once this year with CNU capturing a 6-4 win on February 18 at Captains Park.
First pitch against the Eagles is slated for 2:00 p.m. from the Bridgewater Baseball Field with live stats and a live video webcast available online.
The matchup will be the 57th all-time meeting between the two programs with Bridgewater holding a slight edge in the all-time series, 30-26. Over the last six games, dating back to the start of the 2022 season, the teams are locked even at 3-3 and in Christopher Newport's last trip to Bridgewater in 2023, the Captains suffered a narrow 5-4 setback.
CNU is coming out of a three-game slide this weekend after a trip to Greensboro, N.C. for the D3 Showcase. The Captains opened the year with four straight wins before dropping three in a row, including two against nationally-ranked competition. Bridgewater dropped their season opener to CNU and has since not lost, winning four straight games to post a 4-1 overall record.
Junior center fielder
Jake Benedict leads the team with 12 hits through the first seven games out of the leadoff spot. He is hitting .400 and has scored a team-best eight runs. Sophomore catcher
Cameron Slough is hitting .417 in four starts while
Ayden Stuffel (.304),
Sam Benedict (.304), and
Aaron Maxie (.300) are each hitting over .300 in seven starts so far for the Captains.
In the first matchup against Bridgewater, the Captains employed a "bullpen" game with eight different pitchers seeing action against the Eagles.
Ryan Morrison (1-0) earned the win and
Christian Williams picked up his second save of the year in the outing. Morrison is leading the team with a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 relief innings this season while striking out seven.
Cooper Newell has started three games and boasts a team-high 11 strikeouts in 10.0 innings pitched. Williams has appeared in four of the seven games this year and has yet to allow a run with a 1-0 record, 0.00 ERA, and two saves.
Since dropping the season opener to CNU, Bridgewater swept McDaniel in a three-game series and added an 8-6 win against Dickinson on Tuesday. Chandler Valbak leads the team hitting .429 while driving in four and scoring seven times. Ashton Smith has a team-high nine RBI while Zack Chadwell has already blasted a pair of home runs for five RBI. On the hill, Cam Nuckols has a 1.35 ERA in two games this season as one of five different pitchers to start the five games played so far this season.
Following the mid-week matchup against Bridgewater, the Captains will travel to Myrtle Beach for three games in South Carolina this weekend. CNU will take on Manchester University, Saint Elizabeth, and Neumann.
