NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Picking up the first conference win of the season while improving to 29-7 overall, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team secured an 11-2 Senior Day win at Captains Park. Thanks to a decision to move first pitch up an hour, expected rain never arrived as the Captains were able to cruise to the home victory on a sunny Saturday afternoon over the Eagles, who fall to 26-11, 0-2 this year. 

A first inning three-run missile over the left field fence by senior Justin Bowers proved to be enough on Saturday afternoon as the Captains leaned on another outstanding start by Dylan Weber. With his team-leading seventh home run of the season, Bowers moved into a tie with Connor Madden for the eighth most in program history with 21 career round-trippers. Also moving up the all-time charts, Weber improved to 6-2 on the season and joined the top-ten in CNU program history with 16 career victories. He matches Sean Chitsaz (2009-11) and Tab Pabst (1990-91) for tenth all-time. 

The Captains raced out to a 7-1 lead after three and added three runs of insurance in the fifth and one more in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Eagles never got going against Weber, scoring one run on four hits over 6.0 strong innings for the Captains starter, and added their second run in the top of the eighth against reliever Kyle Lewis. 

After Weber made quick work of Mary Washington in the top of the first, retiring the side in order, the Captains jumped on the Eagles starter for three runs in the first. Josh Reinhold singled up the middle and moved up to second as Zach Dzarnowski recorded his 37th walk of the season. That would bring up Bowers, who worked the count full and then jumped on a 3-2 offering with a blistering line drive that left the diamond in a hurry. His three-run homer extends a five-game RBI streak that has seen him pile up 10 runs batted in during the stretch. 

Sam Benedict led off the second inning with a single through the left side and then moved up to third base on a hard-hit line drive by Scott Crosson into the left center field gap. Reinhold then narrowly missed a two-run single after an impressive diving play by the first baseman robbed him of the knock, but his groundball provided the Captains with another run, taking a 4-0 lead. 

Three more would come across in the bottom of the third as the Captains rallied with two outs. Jake Benedict reached on a single to third base and Ayden Stuffel followed with a towering triple to right field that ricocheted off the top of the wall, allowing Benedict to race home. One batter later, Sam Benedict singled into center field and Stuffel trotted home. After a stolen base, Justin Liakos then swapped places with Benedict, doubling to left center field for another RBI base hit. 

Continuing to add to the lead in the fifth, the Captains would score three more runs on three hits. Ayden Stuffel worked a one-out walk and then moved up to third base on a single by Sam Benedict. Liakos delivered again, driving in a pair with hard-hit single into left field. After Reinhold walked to chase the Mary Washington starter, Dzarnowski capped the inning with an RBI single into left field. 

The three-run fifth gave the Captains a 10-1 lead heading into the second half of the ball game, and Weber continued to roll through the Eagles lineup. He faced just ten batters in his final three innings of work, retiring nine straight with five strikeouts and a tailor made double play to end the fifth. 

Weber gave way to Daniel Elliott in the seventh as the junior reliever appeared for the first time since March 1st after nursing an injury over the last seven weeks. The dominant right-hander picked up right where he left off, retiring the side in order on 15 pitches with one strikeout. He now has 14 K's in 6.2 innings pitched for the Captains out of the bullpen in six total appearances. 

Kyle Lewis tossed the eighth, quickly striking out two of the first three batters he faced. A run scored after a walk and a double, but Lewis finished out the side with his third punchout of the day. 

In the bottom of the eighth, the Captains got fireworks from the Senior Class as they participated in one of their final home regular season games. Seniors Justin Bowers and Alec Reilly led off with back-to-back walks to bring long-time bullpen backstop Connor O'Grady-Walsh to the plate for his first career at-bat. After taking a first-pitch strike, the veteran squared up the next offering and laced a line drive single up the middle for an RBI single to send the Captains' dugout into a frenzy. 

The RBI base hit from the CNU reserve capped the scoring for CNU, who finished out the 11-2 win with senior Danny Checkosky on the hill. Checkosky got a groundball to second and, after walking a batter, induced a game-ending double play as Reinhold flipped to senior Ethan Weaver for the transfer to Bowers. 

Sam Benedict was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a run scored in the game while Bowers tacked on the 3-RBI performance with a 1-for-4 showing and a walk. Reinhold and Liakos each added multi-hit performances with two hits apiece. 

Christopher Newport and Mary Washington will return to action on Sunday, April 23 as the Captains travel to Northern Virginia to take on the Eagles at 2:00 p.m. The game will be played at Capital One Park in Tyson's Corner and not on campus in Fredericksburg. Live stats will be available, but no video stream .