GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Trailing by three in the top of the eighth, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team rallied to tie on a three-run home run by Doc Daniels, but 10th-ranked Cortland (2-3) squeaked by the Captains (6-2) with a single run in the eighth to capture a 5-4 win at the D3 Showcase in Greensboro. Playing at First National Bank Field, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the comeback was denied despite Daniels delivering his second three-run home run in as many days.

Christopher Newport was charged with facing junior left-hander Luis Misla for the Red Dragons and the Cortland starter put together an exceptional outing in the neutral site contest. CNU mustered just two hits over the first 4.1 innings against Misla while the lefty struck out 11. 

For the Captains, senior right-hander Jack Braley matched Misla for the most part, allowing just three hits over four innings of work. He surrendered an unearned run in the second and left the game trailing 2-0 after four frames. After CNU cut the lead in half with a run in the top of the fifth, the Captains turned to sophomore Ryan Morrison on the mound. 

Christopher Newport manufactured a run in the fifth when Justin Liakos led off with a walk and Scott Crosson kept his bat hot from the leadoff spot, singling into center field. Ayden Stuffel then sacrificed the runners over and Zach Dzarnowski plated the Captains' first run with a groundball to the right side. 

Cortland struck for two more in the fifth against Morrison, taking a 4-1 lead into the sixth. Running out of outs, the Captains took their turn at the plate in the top of the eighth with the middle of the lineup coming up. With one out, Lincoln Lubsen walked to bring up Josh Reinhold, who had struck out in each of his first three plate appearances. With a 49-game on-base streak in the balance, the sophomore shortstop calmly delivered a double to right center on the first pitch of his at-bat to extend his streak and bring the tying run to the plate in Daniels. From there, the CNU transfer did the rest. 

Daniels fell behind in the count, 1-2, before taking two close pitches and fouling off two more to run the count full. On the next pitch, the right-handed swinger smashed a carbon copy of his Friday afternoon round-tripper when he left the yard to left field for a three-run shot. The dramatic swing tied the game, 4-4, and breathed life back into the Captains against their nationally-ranked opponent. 

Unfortunately, the Red Dragons would answer right back in the bottom of the eighth with a lead off single and a walk to the first two batters. After Christian Williams checked on out of the bullpen, he got the first out on a fly ball that moved the runner from second to third, but a single to the next batter plated the game-winning run. Williams escaped any further damage with a punchout and a fly ball to right field. 

In their last trip to the plate, the Captains could not muster a second comeback bid as Cortland retired the side in order to secure the win. It marked just the second loss of the season for CNU while Cortland improved to 2-3 through their first five games.

Reinhold's 50-game on-base streak is only the second such run in Christopher Newport baseball history behind Seth Woodard's program record 52-game roll. He continues to add to his NCAA Division III record to start a career and now ranks tied for 12th all-time at Division III for the most consecutive games reached base. 

The Captains played the first eight games over a nine-day stretch to start the season and Christopher Newport will take a much-earned break until next weekend as they travel to Methodist University for three games. CNU will take on Immaculata University and Wittenberg University on Saturday, March 2 before facing the host Monarchs at 2:30 on Sunday, March 3.