NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team dropped a 10-6 decision in ten innings on Sunday afternoon to No. 21 Penn State Harrisburg (6-4) as the Lions avoided a three-game sweep to the Captains. After winning a pair against PSH on Saturday before Sunday's setback, Christopher Newport is now 10-4 on the season.
Junior
Cameron Slough crushed a two-run home run to left center in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Captains a 5-1 lead with a booming exclamation mark. On the second pitch of his at-bat, Slough barreled the 0-1 offering and hammered it over the wall with a runner on first base.
After the Lions trimmed the lead to 5-3 in the top of the sixth, the Captains got one back in the bottom half to re-take a three-run lead.
Creston Saunders reached on a hit-by-pitch and
Jake Benedict laced a seeing-eye single up the middle. After
Sam Benedict moved the runner up with a groundball to the right side, Saunders raced into score on a wild pitch.
Prior to Slough's big fly, the Captains scored one run in the first and two more in the fourth inning. J. Benedict led things off with a single in the bottom of the first and advanced all the way to third on an errant throw by the pitcher on a pickoff attempt. He jogged in on an RBI double by
Aaron Maxie later in the inning as the junior first baseman added to his team-high with his 21st RBI of the season.
In the fourth,
Jacob Koenig reached with a one-out walk and advanced to third when
Gus Croll doubled into left field. With two on in scoring position, rookie
Logan Adams singled through the left side to plate a run and Croll raced in on a wild pitch moments later.
On the mound, the Captains' starting pitcher
Cooper Newell labored through trouble in each of his five innings pitched but escaped without damage all but once. The Lions scored in the top of the first when Alex Ruiz doubled into right center, but Newell kept the visitors off the board for the next 4.1 innings of work. He worked around baserunners in each inning and the cagey veteran slipped out of danger each time.
In the top of the third with runners at second and third and just one out, Newell got out of it with a line-drive double play to second base. A soft liner looked destined for dirt in front of
Sam Benedict, but the senior made another standout defensive play by diving in to snare the liner out of the air. He then shuffled a throw over to
Josh Reinhold covering at second base for the inning-ending double play.
Newell left the game with the lead after 5.0 innings and one run allowed on 10 hits and a walk. He struck out four batters in the game. The bullpen then saw seven different players appear in the next five innings for the Captains.
Alex Shelkin struck out five batters in a row but a walk and single ahead of Ruiz proved costly as the Lions third baseman tied the game with a three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning.
Charlie Gunn took the ball from Shelkin and forced extra innings with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, but Penn State Harrisburg scored four times in the top of the tenth against three CNU arms to capture the win.
Logan Adams led the team by going 3-for-5 at the plate with one RBI. Eight CNU players logged at least one base hit with J. Benedict serving as the only other Captain with a multi-hit day as the leadoff man went 2-for-5 with a walk. Benedict extended his team-leading hit streak to 10 and is just one game shy of his career-best run of 11 straight games in 2023.
Christopher Newport will return to action on Wednesday, March 11 as they host the United States Coast Guard Academy at 2:00 p.m.
