NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Christopher Newport suffered an 8-2 setback at home on Saturday afternoon as the 19th-ranked Penn State Harrisburg Lions improved to 8-1 against the Captains baseball team. Christopher Newport, coming into the game ranked No. 12 in the nation, is now 9-6 on the season.
Leadoff man
Jake Benedict finished the game 4-for-5 and
Aaron Maxie reached in all five of his plate appearances, but the rest of the lineup struggled to find timely hits against the Penn State Harrisburg pitching staff. On the mound, CNU starter
Jackson Baird tossed five strong innings before taking a no-decision and
Christian Williams registered an impressive seventh relief appearance to finish out the final 2.1 innings.
The Captains coaxed across a run in the bottom of the first to take the lead, but Harrisburg evened the game in the top of the third. The Lions then scored three in the sixth and four more in the seventh to create some separation before a final run was scored by CNU in the bottom of the ninth.
Benedict kicked off his impressive day at the plate with a lead-off double in the bottom of the first. After
Justin Liakos moved him over with a sacrifice bunt, Maxie walked and stole second to put a pair in scoring position for the middle of the lineup.
Lincoln Lubsen powered a high fly ball to left that was deep enough to score Benedict on a sacrifice fly, but that would prove to be all the offense the Captains could muster.
Another double came off Benedict's bat with one out in the third, but he and Maxie, who walked again, were both stranded on the basepaths. In the fifth,
Creston Saunders picked up his first collegiate hit with a clean single into center field to lead off the inning. Benedict then singled to short and the two advanced on a wild pitch. With one out, Maxie walked to load the bases, but the opportunity fell short again.
After escaping the fifth unscathed, Penn State Harrisburg scored three runs on one hit and an error in the top of the sixth. In the seventh, they added four more hits and sent four more across the plate to build an 8-1 lead. CNU put two more runners on in the seventh when Liakos and Maxies had back-to-back singles. Then, in the ninth, the home team finally broke through with another run when Saunders walked and Benedict singled into right center to move him up to third. Liakos hit a deep fly ball to left and the freshman was able to sprint home on the sacrifice fly. Maxie concluded his 2-for-2, 3 BB day with a single up the middle to keep the inning going, but with two outs, CNU could not muster another hit.
On the mound, Baird rolled through five innings with just four baserunners. In the first, he worked around a one-out walk with a strikeout and a groundball to first. He retired the side in order in the second and fourth while allowing one run on two hits in the third. In his final frame, a leadoff single was quickly erased with a double play and Baird punctuated his outing with his fifth strikeout of the game.
Coming on to pitch with two outs in the seventh inning, Williams stranded runners at second and third with a single pitch, inducing an inning ending flyout. He then struck out two on eight pitches to start the eighth inning before giving up a single. The next pitch, though, resulted in an inning-ending groundball, eliminating the threat. In the ninth, Williams continued to keep the Captains as close as he could with another strikeout and two fly ball outs.
Williams pitched more than two innings for the first time in his career with 2.1 scoreless as he added to an impressive string of 8.0 consecutive shutout innings to start the year.
Christopher Newport is off until Tuesday when they kick off another busy week of baseball with a 3:00 p.m. matchup against William Peace University. It marks the first of four games in five days as CNU will also welcome in the United States Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday, March 12 at 1:00 p.m. followed by a road trip to Roanoke on Thursday, March 13 at 4:00 p.m. and a Saturday matinee against Oswego State on March 15 at 1:00 p.m.
