NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport bats stayed hot on Thursday afternoon as the Captains rolled up win number 18 on the season with a 12-10 victory against Marymount University (18-14).
Jake Benedict led a quartet of Captains with multi-hit performances including his fifth home run of the season with what proved to be the game-winning blow in the seventh inning.
Benedict continued his standout junior campaign with a 3-for-4 showing at the dish with three RBI and two runss cored. He also picked up his 16th stolen base in as many attempts while leading the Captains offense with a .423 average in 33 starts this season. In the bottom of the seventh, the center fielder turned on a two-out 2-0 pitch and delivered a two-run blast that gave the Captains a 12-6 lead. When Marymount scored twice in the top of the eighth and added two more in the ninth, the homer turned into pivotal insurance runs.
Prior to the big swing from Benedict, the Captains scored twice in the first and fell behind, 6-2, after four innings. CNU responded with a six-run inning in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good while adding four more in the seventh.
Mitchell Mortensen got the start on the mound for the Captains and rolled through the first three innings in perfect fashion. Retiring the first nine batters he faced, the sophomore lefty had two strikeouts and kept the Saints off the basepaths. In the fourth, Marymount chased the CNU starter and
Peter Hoenig closed out the inning. The Captains then turned the ball over to rookie
Caleb Ammons and the freshman put together the finest outing of his young career.
Ammons cruised through three innings, scattering three hits, and inducing a pair of groundball double plays. In the eighth, Marymount put the first two runners on against Ammons and he gave way to
Doc Daniels on the hill. Two came around to score, but Ammons picked up his first collegiate win with the impressive 3.0+ inning, 5-hit, two-run performance.
At the plate,
Josh Reinhold kicked off the run-scoring base knocks in the game with a one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning. He also scored one batter later when
Aaron Maxie plated him with one of three sacrifice flies in the contest by CNU hitters. Also knocking in a pair with sac flies in the game was the Captains' all-time leader in the category,
Scott Crosson, who piled up his 20th career sacrifice fly with a couple more on Thursday.
In the fourth inning,
Ayden Stuffel led off with a walk and
Justin Liakos reached on a hit-by-pitch ahead of
Lincoln Lubsen. The senior catcher had a stellar day at the plate and drove in one with a double just inside the bag at third base to start a six-run inning for CNU. Crosson followed with the first of his two sacrifice flies and Benedict sent in another run with a hard-hit single up the middle. After a stolen base, Reinhold came up and just missed leaving the yard with a powerful double to the gap that scored another run. After Marymount went to the pen, Maxie added another RBI double and Daniels capped the six-run inning with an RBI single into center field.
The big inning was followed by quiet bats for the next two and a half frames before CNU came back to the dish in the bottom of the seventh. Stuffel reached on a one-out walk and Liakos followed with a four-pitch free pass. Again the Saints went to another reliever, but again it was Lubsen delivering another RBI base hit. This time, he drilled an RBI single through the left side to chase in Stuffel. Crosson's second sac fly of the day plated Liakos and that would bring up Benedict with two outs and a runner on base. After watching the first two pitches out of the zone, the Connecticut native locked in on the 2-0 offering and launched a no-doubter to left to give the Captains a 12-6 lead.
The lead held for the Captains as they improved to 18-15 overall on the season. The CNU offense has piled up 58 runs over the last six games with 25 extra-base hits in that stretch. That included 12 runs and six extra-base knocks on Thursday as the Captains improved to 16-3 all-time against Marymount with a nine-game winning streak.
Joining Benedict, three more Captains finished with multi-hit performances as Lubsen was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, Maxie was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, two doubles, and a run scored, and Reinhold finished the game 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and two runs scored. Reinhold also narrowly missed a third hit when he slammed a line drive toward the third baseman in the eighth inning and the fielder made a fantastic play to record the out.
The Captains will close out the home schedule on Saturday, April 19 as Mary Washington travels to CNU for Senior Day. The Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference matchup will begin at 2:00 p.m.
