NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The CNU baseball team will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon as the Captains (9-6) host William Peace University (4-11) at 3:00 p.m. to kick off a busy week of action. The Captains will play four games over the next five days starting with the matchup against the Pacers.
Christopher Newport is looking to right the ship after dropping three of their last four games this weekend. It will be just the third matchup ever against William Peace with both of the first two games coming last season. CNU earned the inaugural victory, 2-1, in extra innings on February 16 at Captains Park before capturing a 10-0 win on the road in April.
In the game at home,
Justin Liakos scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch before
Gavin Spencer raced home with the game-winning run on a
Doc Daniels RBI single in the bottom of the 10th. On the road, the Captains piled up 10 runs behind multi-RBI efforts by
Jacob Koenig and Liakos.
This season, Daniels is leading the squad in hitting with a .438 average including three doubles.
Jake Benedict has started all 15 games and sports a .426 average with a team-high eight extra-base knocks while scoring a team-high 21 times out of the leadoff spot. Sophomores
Aaron Maxie and
Cameron Slough are the leading run producers so far with 27 combined RBI with Slough driving in 16 and Maxie adding 11 RBI.
As a team, the Captains are hitting .303 with a .402 on-base percentage. Hampered by injuries, only Benedict has started every game in the lineup for CNU this year.
On the pitcher's mound, senior
Jackson Baird has led the way in the rotation with a 3.26 ERA over four starts this year. He has 20 strikeouts over 19.1 innings pitched with a 1-1 record. In the bullpen, senior left-hander
Christian Williams has been outstanding in seven appearances with a 1-0 record, 4 saves and a 0.00 ERA. He has surrendered just three hits while striking out 10 over 8.0 innings pitched.
CNU will be taking on a William Peace squad that is 4-11 with wins in four of their last five games. Nick Tubolino is hitting a team-high .354 with 9 RBI and 9 runs scored and five extra-base hits. Ian Turner has also started all 15 games and owns a .309 average so far this season. On the mound, Jack McIntosh has a sparkling 2.05 ERA after four starts with 22.0 innings pitched and a .213 opponents batting average.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available at CNUsports.com. Following Tuesday's game, the Captains will be back in action on Wednesday against the United States Coast Guard Academy. The Bears are 3-2 to start the year and are set to take on Randolph-Macon on Tuesday.
