ZEBULON, N.C. -- In the second round of the 2013 USA South Baseball Tournament, the fifth-seeded Piedmont Lions (19-16) upset the top-seeded Christopher Newport Captains (28-10-1) with a 6-1 win. Piedmont advances to Saturday's winner's bracket final and the Captains will be forced into an elimination game at 4:00 pm on Friday. CNU will play the winner of the #2 N.C. Wesleyan/#3 Averett game at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C.

The Captains offense was unable to get anything going against Piedmont starter Matt Lisk. The junior right-hander picked up his second win of the season over CNU, tossing 7.2 innings of three-hit ball. He walked five, but struck out five and gave up just one run. 

CNU starter Brandon Taylor (6-3) struggled to find the zone early, issuing a pair of walks and giving up one hit in two innings of work. He suffered the loss despite just one run allowed, forced to leave the game early due to sore arm. Sophomore reliever Adam Emerson came in to start the bottom of the third inning. 

Piedmont took a 2-0 lead when Michael Barnes came around to score on an RBI single by Austin Brick. It was the second time in the ball game that the Lions took advantage of a walk, picking up a steal by Barnes and the RBI knock from Brick. 

The Captains cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth when sophomore outfielder Preston Grissom singled home rookie Kyle Corwin. The freshman reached on a lead-off walk and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Tommy Kane. That would be all the scoring for CNU though, as the Captains stranded 12 base-runners in the game.

Piedmont extended the lead with a two-run home run from Josh Bailey in the fifth, and tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Defensive substitution Kevin D'Antignac had an RBI single and Barnes added a sacrifice fly. The Captains would load the bases in the ninth on a pair of walks and an infield single by Grissom, but would strand all three runners to end the game. 

CNU will have to win their second game on Friday to extend their potential title defense, forced to play a top seed after three upsets on Thursday pit the #2 Bishops against the #3 Cougars. Live stats and live video will be available at CNUsports.com