NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The second-seeded Christopher Newport baseball team earned a 17-5 win over #5 Southern Virginia in their Capital Athletic Conference Tournament opener and then dropped a dramatic 10-9 decision to #3 Penn State Harrisburg in the double-elimination tournament. The Captains (32-9) belted seven home runs between the two games but will need to win twice on Saturday to keep their conference championship hopes alive. 

Penn State Harrisburg notched the first 30-win season in program history with a pair of wins on the opening day, improving to 30-10 this year. The Lions will be the home team in Saturday's first game, scheduled for 11:00 am, as CNU faces elimination. If the Captains force a deciding game with a win in Saturday's first game, a second will be played at approximately 2:00 pm. 

Juniors Seth Woodard and Nicholas Baham each had a pair of home runs on a sweltering day at Captains Park on Friday, leading another impressive offensive showing for the electric CNU offense. Woodard was 5-for-8 with a pair of walks, 5 runs scored and 6 RBI; Baham added three hits, 4 runs and 3 RBI. 

With the impressive individual effort, Woodard continues his stalwart junior season. He became just the sixth player in program history to drive in 60+ runs in a season, moving up to third on the single season chart in CNU history with 63. He also has now scored 55 times, tied for third most in a single year. Only Matt Turner's 2002 season (64 runs, 68 RBI) features a CNU player with more runs and RBI in a single year. 

In the first game, the offense quickly put away Southern Virginia with runs in each of the first five innings. CNU led, 16-3, after five running away with their first postseason win of the year. Rookie Josh Husby allowed two earned runs on nine hits over 5.0 innings of work while striking out six, to earn the win. The freshman right-hander improved to 5-0 on the season. 

Offensively, CNU scored three runs in the first as Woodard delivered an RBI ground out and two batters later Baham exited the stadium for a two-run shot. After the Knights pulled within one with two in the bottom half, the CNU offense responded with one in the second, two in the third, and three in the fourth. The team then exploded for seven in the fifth to blow the game wide open. 

Woodard led off the third with a home run and in the seven-run fifth, Ginch and Nicholas DiNapoli each powered out two-run dingers. 

With the game in hand, the Captains used four different pitchers in relief. Logan Aylor worked through the sixth with a pair of strikeouts; Jaret West tossed the seventh; Teddy Herbert struck out one in a shutout eighth inning and; Corey Williams closed out the win with a pair of K's in a scoreless ninth. 

The second game would feature a much different ballgame as the Lions raced out to a big lead over the Captains. Penn State Harrisburg led 10-3 after six, setting up the potential for another late-game rally by the dangerous CNU offense. This season, CNU has won six games when trailing after six innings, including a pair of walk-off wins. The stage was set again on Friday, when the game-tying run reached third base in the bottom of the ninth. 

Despite trailing by seven heading into the final two innings, the Captains caught fire with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull within three. All four runs came with two outs as Baham started things off with a walk. Craig Johnson then stepped in and hit a massive shot to deep center field for a two-run home run. DiNapoli walked next and Ryan Grubbs was then hit by a pitch. The two runners moved up on a wild pitch before Austin Henry stepped up with a hard line drive into center field for a two-run single. 

In the ninth inning, the Captains continued to claw with Woodard leading off with a single through the left side. After two outs were recorded, Johnson stepped in and singled into right field to keep the inning alive. On a 1-0 count, DiNapoli then hit a dramatic two-run triple down the right field line to pull CNU within one and put the tying run 90 feet from home. The Lions would escape, however, inducing a game-ending fly ball to right field to strand DiNapoli. 

Thomas Packert (8-1) suffered his first loss of the season for the Captains and Mark Artley (6-3) picked up the win. He allowed three runs  over 7.0 innings while striking out five. In relief for CNU, Brian Owens gave up one run in 1.1 innings with a strikeout and Austin Slough tossed 2.0 clean innings with a pair of K's. In the ninth, senior Joe Burris worked around a pair of singles with a couple of strikeouts. 

Following Friday's action, only two teams remain in the CAC Tournament first round. In the other first-round pod hosted by top-seeded Salisbury, the same setting has played out, with the host Sea Gulls needing just one win over #4 York (Pa.) in Saturday's action to advance to the championship series. 

All the action from Captains Park will be available at CNUsports.com/live.