NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- With two games left on the regular season schedule, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team will look to close with a strong swing against Marymount University at home on Friday and a road trip to the University of Mary Washington on Saturday. The No. 24 Captains (23-13) will throw out the first pitch against Marymount at 3:00 p.m. at Captains Park before facing off against the Eagles at 2:00 p.m.
This week, the Captains fell to No. 24 in the D3baseball.com national rankings after dropping four in a row. Marymount is 22-15 overall this season coming off back-to-back wins with a Thursday evening matchup against Stevenson on the docket. The Captains are 16-4 all-time against Marymount after the Saints captured a 12-6 win over CNU on April 20 of this season in the most recent outing.
In the Saturday afternoon tilt against Mary Washington, the game will have playoff implications for the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship. The conference tournament seeding will be determined by the head-to-head results between CNU, Mary Washington, and Salisbury. Currently, Salisbury is 2-2, Mary Washington is 2-1, and CNU is 1-2 with the finale proving vital to determining the C2C Championship host sites and seeding.
The Captains dropped the earlier head-to-head bout with the Eagles on April 11 by a final score of 5-2. CNU owns a 37-14 advantage in the all-time series against their conference foe including a 14-4 record in Fredericksburg.
This season, Christopher Newport is hitting a league-leading .318 as a team while ranking ninth nationally in doubles per game with 2.5 per contest. Leading the two-base attack has been senior
Jake Benedict with 15 while juniors
Cameron Slough (13) and
Aaron Maxie (12) are right behind. Maxie is leading the team in slugging with a .650 clip with the aid of four home runs on the season and 16 extra-base hits in 100 at-bats. Benedict leads the squad in total home runs, with six, and extra-base hits, with 21, while slugging .587 out of the leadoff spot for the Captains.
Heading into the final regular season weekend, thetains lineup also features standouts
Sam Benedict, hitting .391,
Gus Croll, hitting .374, and
Josh Reinhold, hitting .333.
On the mound, Christopher Newport graduate student
Jackson Baird ranks in the top 25 nationally in strikeouts with 70 for a K/9 of 11.18. He is 4-4 overall with a 3.51 ERA this season while leading the team with 11 starts.
Cooper Newell (5-0, 3.06 ERA) has helped lead the pitching rotation with 45 punchouts in 50.0 innings pitched.
Marymount is led by the national leader in stolen bases, Quincy Via, with 52, as one of three Saints hitting over .400 this season. Evan Schick ranks 20th in Division III with a .450 average while Via is adding a .427 average with Francis Swekosky hitting .411. On top of the offensive leaders, Marymount also features Ben Smallwood on the mound, ranking fifth nationally with a 1.69 ERA including three complete games to rank 25th nationally.
Mary Washington features Collin Clarkson with a .376 average and 20 RBI while Connor Hassan is hitting .322 with a 30 RBI. Gavin Riley leads the pitching staff with seven wins while Matthew Caldwell is 2-0 with a team-leading 3.79 ERA over 35.2 innings pitched.
Live stats and a live video webcast will be available for both games with links found at CNUsports.com.
