ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. -- The Christopher Newport offense came alive against St. Mary's College of Maryland on Saturday with seven extra-base hits including six doubles from six different players as the Captains pulled away for a 12-8 win. Jackson Baird (3-2) tossed another quality start to help lift Christopher Newport to 17-6 on the season. 

The Captains took an early 5-0 lead, grew the advantage to 9-2, and then held off a late rally by the host Seahawks for the four-run victory. The loss drops St. Mary's (Md.) to 7-10 on the season and the two teams will match up again on Sunday at Captains Park in the return game to Newport News. 

Offensively, senior Jake Benedict had the biggest blow of the day with a two-run home run in the top of the second to cap a four-run inning that kickstarted the CNU offense. Stone Lasseigne reached base ahead of Benedict with a two-run double to left center field and then trotted home on the big blast by the senior center fielder over the left field wall. Brayden Mazzoni also had a double in the second inning as the extra-base hits started early for the CNU lineup. 

Tacking on a single run in the third, Logan Adams singled and moved up on an error before Gus Croll drove in the freshman with a blistering shot up the middle. The Seahawks countered with two in the bottom of the third, trimming the lead to 5-2, but CNU quickly answered back with another run in the fourth. It was two more doubles that scored the run as Cameron Slough reached on a one-out double to left center and Adams traded places with the junior backstop with a laser down the left field line. 

The decisive inning would come in the sixth as CNU took a 9-2 advantage on the road. Slough walked and Lukas Miller added a two-base hit of his own to put a pair of Captains in scoring position with nobody out. Adams' bat stayed hot with an RBI single into left field and Croll added his second RBI knock wtih double into left field. A third run came in on a groundball to the left side off the bat of Jake Mutter and the Captains built the advantage to seven runs with just three innings left to play. 

The teams traded runs in the next two half-innings with CNU scoring on a sacrifice fly by Slough. In the bottom of the seventh, the hosts threatened to eliminate the advantage with a five-run rally but the Captains held onto a 10-8 lead when Charlie Gunn came out of the pen and stranded three runners on the bases with a groundball to third. 

Adding some insurance in the top of the ninth, Benedict singled through the left side and moved up to second on a single by Slough. Josh Reinhold drove in a run with a groundball to short as the senior was making his first appearance in over two weeks after leaving the game early against Coast Guard on March 11. Immediately making an impact, Reinhold drove in his 14th run of the season in his second plate appearance. Taking advantage of patience at the plate, the Captains got back-to-back walks from Croll and Mazzoni to plate the final run of the game with Reinhold crossing home. 

On the mound, the CNU offense was matched by another outstanding start by graduate student Jackson Baird. Baird gave up three earned runs while striking out nine batters over 6.0 innings pitched against the Seahawks. He scattered six hits before giving way to Jackson Chappell, Cam Comins, and Gunn. In the ninth inning, Mitchell Mortensen came on to close the door in the close game, striking out a pair to secure the 12-8 win. 

A tro of Captains finished with three hit days as Lasseigne led the way by going 3-for-4 with a walk. Benedict and Adams were each 3-for-6 and all three players scored twice and drove in a pair. Rounding out the multi-hit performances on Saturday were Slough (2-for-4) and Croll (2-for-5). 

First pitch in Sunday's return game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Captains Park. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available at CNUsports.com.