LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Facing a seven-run deficit with less than three innings to play, the Christopher Newport baseball team had their backs against the wall against Penn St.-Behrend in the NCAA Regional at City Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday before rallying to tie the game and force extra innings. Once in extra time, freshman
Logan Adams played the role of postseason hero with a one-out no-doubt walk-off home run to left center field in the bottom of the 11th to lift the Captains (25-16) to a 10-9 come-from-behind win.
Adams had the biggest highlight of the game in the midst of the biggest offensive performance of the day as the rookie drove in a career-high five runs while going 3-for-5 at the dish and falling just a single shy of the cycle. It marks the most RBI in a postseason game by a Captain since Trey Hicks drove in six against Misericordia in game two of the 2019 NCAA Regional Championship in Newport News. With a 5-RBI postseason game, the rookie joins an exclusive group that includes Hicks, Steven Keener (5 vs. Salisbury in 2012), Chris Phaup (5 vs. Trinity (CT) in 2003), and Jon Hurd (7 vs. York (PA) in 2002) in CNU lore.
The theatrics in the bottom of the eleventh were set up by a stellar pitching performance out of the bullpen by rookie
Tommy Blackburn followed by sophomore
Charlie Gunn as the duo combined for five scoreless frames to end the game. After the CNU staff surrendered nine runs over the first six innings, including runs in four straight innings, the Captains called on Blackburn to start the seventh. The rookie right-hander was efficient and dominant, pitching to contact and allowing the defense behind him to keep the Lions off the board.
Blackburn needed just nine pitches to get through the seventh and and an even more effective six pitches to cruise through the eighth. He ran into a little trouble in the ninth, but stranded a pair to get through it and then came the 10th, where Blackburn wowed fans with a three-pitch frame. A pair of groundball outs to
Logan Adams preceded a fly ball to right as the rookie rolled through the perfect inning.
In the top of the tenth, Penn St.-Behrend threatened with a lead-off double that bumped Blackburn from the game in favor of Gunn, making his team-leading 21st relief appearance. Gunn, who threw two innings in game one of the regional, came back on Saturday and put together another dominant effort. First, he leaned on a sparkling defensive play by senior shortstop
Josh Reinhold when he got the first batter he faced to roll over a groundball to the left side. Reinhold, who was screened by the runner, made a quick decision to dive and smother the ball destined for the outfield up the middle and was able to leap to his feet and fire a dart across the diamond for the out. Gunn then walked back-to-back hitters to load the bases with one out but rallied for a thrilling strikeout and a rally-ending flyball to right that
Gus Croll corraled to end the threat.
That would set up the game-winning at-bat for Adams, who came up with one out in the bottom of the 11th. The rookie watched as a first-pitch breaking ball missed on the inner half before eyeing a fastball down the middle on the next offering. With a textbook swing, Adams slammed the pitch just to the right of the scoreboard at City Stadium and over the tall double wall that surrounds the outfield at the ballpark. His solo shot sent the Captains into a celebratory frenzy as they walked it off and earned the right to advance in the Regional Championship.
Long before the clutch pitching performance and dramatic finish, the Captains mounted a comeback that reversed the script they have faced with their own bullpen issues prior to Saturday morning's marathon. In three straight losses and four of the last five, the lead evaporated for the Captains in either the 8th or 9th inning. On Saturday, it was CNU's turn to enjoy some late-game magic.
CNU scored one run in the second and another in the fifth before erasing the seven-run lead with three in the bottom of the 7th and four more in the bottom of the 8th.
The offense started when
Gus Croll reached on a fielder's choice in the 2nd and Adams picked up the first of his five RBI with a line drive to center field. The Behrend outfielder attempted a diving play and the ball got by him, allowing Croll to race all the way around to score on Adams' first career triple.
Penn St.-Behrend answered with eight straight runs before the Captains got back on the board again in the bottom of the fifth.
Aaron Maxie led off with a walk and sprinted around the basepaths on a well-read double to right center field by Croll. The base hit extended Croll's hitting streak to 11 and a base hit later in the game gave the junior his eighth multi-hit game in the streak.
Facing a 9-2 deficit in the bottom of the seventh, the Captains started to mount their comeback. Maxie ripped a one-out single up the middle and Slough followed with a drive into right field to finally chase the Behrend starting pitcher after 6.1 innings. Croll walked to load the bases and Adams snagged his second RBI when he got drilled with no where to put him. Senior
Stone Lasseigne pinch hit and added a productive out with an RBI groundball to the right side allowing Slough to score. Then, the third run came in on a wild pitch and the lead shrunk to just four with two innings to play.
In the 8th, the top of the lineup kickstarted the game-tying rally.
Jake Benedict and
Sam Benedict worked a pair of walks to lead off the inning and, after an out, Maxie loaded the bases with the third walk in four batters. Attempting to limit the damage and surrender a run for an out, the Lions played back against Slough and it proved detrimental when the junior hit a groundball to third base. The Behrend fielder was able to get one out, but Slough sprinted through the bag at first base to keep the inning alive. With the fleet-footed catcher extending the inning, Croll came up with a clutch RBI single to center field to keep the line moving. That would bring up Adams in yet another key situation and the rookie looked more than ready for the moment as he snuck a two-out two-run double inside the bag at third that plated both runners and tied the game.
In addition to Adams' three-hit performance, Croll finished 2-for-5 with a walk, three runs scored, and two RBI.
Donovan Newell and
Lukas Miller each recorded hits in three at-bats while Slough, Maxie, and Reinhold each notched base hits in the game. For Maxie, he extends a team-leading hitting streak to 15 games.
Christopher Newport awaits the losing team from Game 4 in the Lynchburg Regional, featuring No. 3 University of Lynchburg versus Maryville College (TN). Game 5, originally scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at City Stadium, has already been backed up due to the length of CNU's Game 3, just under four hours. Stay tuned to @CNUathletics for updates on the scheduled game time for the second elimination game of the day for CNU.
