NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport baseball team moved up in the national rankings ahead of a busy week starting with a home game against North Carolina Wesleyan University on Wednesday afternoon. CNU moved up to No. 15 in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Poll and No. 16 in the D3baseball.com Top 25 rankings.
The nationally-ranked Captains will host N.C. Wesleyan (8-16) at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for all the action from Captains Park.
Last week, CNU went 3-1 with the lone loss coming to Bridgewater College, now ranked No. 6 in the ABCA poll, by just one run. The Captains have won seven of the last eight games and is now 18-6 overall this season. The Captains will be facing N.C. Wesleyan for the 109th time with the series leaning slightly in favor of the Bishops. CNU is 49-59 all-time in the longest standing rivalries in program history.
The Captains starting pitch has not given up more than four runs in a start in the last seven games while being led by the veteran core of Jackson Baird (3-2, 2.89 ERA),
Cooper Newell (4-0, 3.09 ERA), and
Ryan Morrison (2-0, 5.24 ERA). Morrison tossed a no-hitter in the most recent outing, shutting out St. Mary's (Md.) over seven innings.
Junior
Mitchell Mortensen (3-0, 2.16 ERA) has also picked up a start while making nine relief appearances this season. Out of the bullpen, sophomore
Charlie Gunn ranks fifth nationally with 13 total appearances so far this season. He has three saves and boasts an overall record of 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA while striking out 15 batters over 14.2 innings pitched.
At the plate, CNU ranks fifth nationally in doubles with 52 and 30th in Division III home runs with 23 this season.
Jake Benedict leads the team in homers with five and is in a three-way tie for the team lead with 10 doubles. Matching him with ten two-base hits are
Aaron Maxie and
Cameron Slough and all three are slugging over .600 this season. Slough leads the team in RBI with 26 while starting all 24 games behind the plate this year.
N.C. Wesleyan enters the Wednesday matchup with an 8-16 overall record while winning four straight. The Battling Bishops earned a conference sweep against Brevard this weekend including a 9-8 extra-inning win in Sunday's finale. The team is led offensively by Banks Hartman hitting .410 with 23 RBI and 21 runs scored. Schumata Brown and Maison Nance have also combined for 51 RBI and 47 runs scored. On the mound, Colby Lewis leads the staff with a 2-5 record and 2.95 ERA.
Following the mid-week matchup against the Battling Bishops, the Captains will travel to Randolph-Macon College on Thursday for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch. CNU earned a 3-1 win over the Yellow Jackets on March 21 in the first matchup between the two teams earlier this season.
