GREENSBORO, N.C. – "It ain't over til it's over," once said major league baseball legend Yogi Berra and on Friday at the D3 Showcase at First National Bank Field in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Christopher Newport Captains and Marietta Pioneers put that mantra to the test. Nine innings wasn't enough in a back-and-forth marathon that lasted over four and a half hours, featured over 480 pitches thrown, 41 runs scored on 37 hits, and a walk-off winner for the Captains (4-1) in a 21-20 final.
 
CNU split the day after suffering a 13-4 setback to second-ranked Denison (1-0) but the second game of the day highlighted the action as Marietta opened the season (0-2).
 
Sophomore Brayden Mazzoni delivered the decisive blow with a blistering double to the gap in the bottom of the tenth, plating the third run of the final frame. The Captains trailed by two heading into the last of the tenth and sophomore Ashton Hylton tied the game as CNU came from behind for the fifth time in the contest. It proved to be the last as Logan Adams raced in to score the winner two pitches after Hylton tied it up on Mazzoni's double. It was the last of 128 plate appearances in the game that lasted four hours, thirty-three minutes.
 
One of the most memorable Division III games in recent history, the Captains and Pioneers combined for 41 runs with eight lead changes and seven ties in the game. Perhaps most impressively with the no-quit offensive units was the two-out run production. Twenty-four of the 41 combined runs were scored with two outs, including all eight in the game-tying bottom of the eighth for the Captains. It marked the most runs combined in a CNU baseball game all-time, supplanting the previous record of 38 in a 26-12 win over Frostburg State on March 16, 2019. 
 
Marietta led by as many as seven just six outs away from victory, but a dramatic eight-run eighth lifted CNU ahead by one headed into the final inning of regulation. The Pioneers would not be denied, tying the game in the top half and forcing extras. In the top of the tenth, Marietta pulled ahead with a leadoff homer and added an insurance run, but the cardiac Captains secured the dramatic win in the bottom of the tenth.
 
Marietta took a 4-0 lead but a 5-run second inning put the Captains in the lead, 5-4. The Pioneers answered with three in the top of the third before CNU pulled back within one with a single run in the bottom half.
 
The second inning surge came with two outs, as Jake Benedict had the highlight when he launched a grand slam home run with two outs to tie the game. Before Benedict came to the plate, Cameron Slough walked, Adams reached on a two-out walk, and both runners moved up when Gus Croll watched a payoff pitch miss out of the zone to load the bases ahead of Benedict. Facing a 2-1 count, the senior center fielder left no doubt when he turned on a pitch and powered it over the wall in left field.
 
The scoring wasn't done there as Sam Benedict followed with a single up the middle and Josh Reinhold added a four-pitch walk against the Marietta reliever. That would bring up Aaron Maxie who ripped a two-out single up the middle to plate another run and give the Captains a 5-4 lead.
 
The Pioneers re-took the lead in the top of the third with three runs to pull ahead, 7-5. Then, in the bottom half, the first two batters reached for the Captains when Jacob Koenig singled and Adams was drilled on the first pitch of his at-bat. After Macho Santiago moved them up with a sacrifice bunt, Croll sacrificed in a run with a fly ball to center field.
 
The teams would trade monstrous home runs to right field in the fourth inning. In the top half, Diego DeCello delivered a two-run blast off the middle of the video board, but CNU's junior first baseman, Maxie, responded with the louder of the two when he absolutely destroyed a three-run dinger off the top of the First National Bank Field scoreboard which stands five to six stories tall. The two-run HR for Marietta gave the visitors a 9-6 lead, but Maxie's second homer of the season tied the game back up at 9 runs apiece.
 
After the two teams traded runs in the fifth, including another RBI for Maxie with a double, it was Marietta that pulled away with seven straight before the Captains reserves put up a fight in the bottom of the eighth.  
 
After two quick outs, Adams reached on another HBP and the Captains called on Hylton and Mazzoni for back-to-back pinch hits. Hylton singled into right field to bring up Mazzoni. On a 1-1 pitch, Mazzoni peppered a double into the left field corner, but as the runners cycled around the bases, the umpires called a dead ball and ruled the ball landed just foul. Not to be denied, Mazzoni shook it off and snuck a base hit inside the third base bag to load the bases.
 
Having done their jobs, the lineup turned back over to the top where Jake Benedict continued his outstanding game with a single that blazed off the third baseman and into left field to plate a pair. Stone Lasseigne, into the game after an injury to Sam Benedict, then delivered a first-pitch fastball into the right field wall to score another run. The inning continued when Reinhold reached on an errant throw and the Captains took advantage. Maxie was intentionally walked and Slough pounded the first pitch he saw to deep left center field, chasing in both runners to tie the game at 17-all after the dire start to the inning. Koenig capped the go-ahead frame with a single into right field, capping an eight-run eighth on seven hits and one error.
 
After Marietta tied things up, the tenth inning played out with Hylton and Mazzoni's heroics to send the CNU bench into a frenzied celebration for the win. Alex Shelkin (1-0) earned the win in relief after pitching two innings as the last of seven CNU pitchers in the game. The Captains combined for 13 strikeouts in the game.
 
J. Benedict led the way with a 3-for-7 showing and 6 RBI while Maxie was 3-for-6 with 5 RBI. Eleven different CNU players recorded a hit and 12 different players crossed the plate in the game for the Captains.
 
In game one, the Captains fell behind, 5-1, before getting on the board in the top of the fourth. CNU trimmed the lead to 5-2 in the top of the sixth, but a seven-run sixth for Denison would prove to be the difference as any comeback by CNU was thwarted by the big inning.
 
The Captains offense got kickstarted by Cameron Slough with a two-out single into left field in the fourth. After advancing on a balk, Slough raced home on a double by Jacob Koenig deep to center field. CNU would tack on another run on three hits in the sixth. Josh Reinhold whistled a hard shot off the shortstop and Aaron Maxie floated a single into left field going the other way. With two on, Slough reached on a single to load the bases and bring up Koenig for another chance to add to the Captains offense. Koenig hammered a 1-0 pitch and it looked like it might carry but the Big Red right fielder slammed against the wall and hauled in the out. Despite just missing the grand slam, Koenig drove in a run with the sacrifice fly.
 
In the top of the seventh, Donovan Newell started things out with a walk and moved up to second on a single by Sam Benedict. Reinhold continued to swing the bat well with shot to the opposite field to plate two more runs for CNU.
 
That would be it at the plate for the Captains against the nationally-ranked Denison squad in their season opener. Jackson Baird (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up five runs in 3.0 innings in his second start of the year. Mitchell Mortensen allowed a run over 2.0 innings of relief before Dylan Blazer, Marcus Dux, and Cam Comins finished out the game on the hill. Comins struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth with a perfect 1-2-3 outing. Dux added three K's in his two innings of work.
 
Sam Benedict made a pair of dazzling plays at third base on the day. First, the 2025 All-Region Defensive Team selection made a charging, bare-handed play on a slow chopper to gun down a runner at first against Denison in the bottom of the fourth. Then, in a one-run game against Marietta with a runner on second, the senior made a back-handed diving play to his knees, popped up in foul territory and threw a bullet to first base to hold the runner and get the out.
 
In the two game set, Reinhold had five hits in ten at-bats with four runs scored and two RBI. Koenig also had a standout performance with a team-high four hits against Marietta and five hits on the day. He finished 5-for-9 with 2 runs, 3 RBI, and one HBP.
 
The Captains will close out their appearance at the D3 Showcase against nationally-ranked Cortland on Saturday morning. First pitch against the Dragons is scheduled for 11:00 a.m at First National Bank Field in Greensboro, N.C.