LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Just under a week after hosting the second-ranked University of Lynchburg at Captains Park, the Christopher Newport baseball team will make the return trip to face the Hornets on the road Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Lynchburg, now ranked No. 3 by the ABCA Top 25 and No. 4 in the D3baseball.com national rankings, is game three of a five-game week as the Captains will also be back home on Thursday to take on Marymount at 3:00 p.m.
The Captains (17-14) are coming off a convincing 13-3 win over Marymount in a game that was shortened to seven innings by the ten-run rule. CNU blasted four home runs in the matchup on the road Monday night and will look to capitalize on the hot bats again on Wednesday. The Captains have now scored 48 runs over the last five games with 12 home runs.
That spurt includes a hard-luck 11-7 loss to Lynchburg at home last week that saw CNU tie the game up, 6-6, after five innings of play. The Hornets held off the Captains with five runs in the final four frames, but
Cameron Slough delivered a game-tying grand slam as part of the power surge late in the season.
The all-time series now favors the Hornets by one game as CNU is 9-10 all-time against Lynchburg. On Thursday, CNU will look to continue its success against the Saints, owning a 13-3 advantage in the all-time series against Marymount.
Live stats and live video will be available for both games -- courtesy of Lynchburg athletics on Wednesday and available at CNUsports.com on Thursday.
Three CNU players are hitting .350 or better for the season with
Doc Daniels (.356),
Aaron Maxie (.384), and
Jake Benedict (.419) leading the way. Benedict is among the national leaders in runs scored with 43 through 31 starts this season; he is just two runs scored shy of the most by a CNU player in a single year since 2019. Maxie continues to get on base at a high percentage with a league-high .522 mark courtesy of 38 hits and a team-high 26 walks this season.
Lynchburg will counter the potent lineup with one of the best pitching staffs in Division III as the Hornets come into the contest ranked second nationally in ERA (2.82) and 10th in hits allowed per nine innings (7.53). The offense has been formidable as well, ranking 20th nationally in stolen bases and 38th in Division III in total runs scored.
Marymount will represent the penultimate home game of the year for CNU this Thursday as the Saints close the home-and-home series with the return trip to CNU. The Captains will then host Senior Day on Saturday, April 19 at 2:00 p.m. against the University of Mary Washington.
