NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Sophomore Brandon Cassedy (6-1) continued his stellar second season with an eight-inning gem against Mary Washington on Saturday afternoon, lifting the 18th-ranked Captains to a 9-5 win in Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference play. The CNU baseball team improved to 17-6 overall with a 1-0 record in league play after Cassedy struck out 11 to earn his sixth win of the season. 

The Captains led 4-1 after three and then 9-2 after six innings before Mary Washington staged a late-inning comeback bid that would fall short against the home team. The CNU offense raked 15 hits including seven for extra bases and scored nine runs against an Eagles pitching staff that ranked 15th nationally in team ERA coming into the Saturday afternoon contest. 

Playing in front of a season-high crowd of over 300, the Captains got the bats going early against the Eagles. Scott Crosson led off with a double in the first and Zach Dzarnowski also singled in the inning. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Ayden Stuffel kickstarted a small rally with a base-hit bunt to third base. Eric Wilson walked and rookie Jacob Koenig put the Captains on the board with a two-out two-run double to the gap in right center field. 

Mary Washington cut the lead in half with a run in the top of the third, but Cassedy limited the damage with his third strikeout in the first three frames. The sophomore right-hander would then lock in, cruising through the next five innings to get CNU well into position for the win, exiting with a 9-2 lead. Cassedy struck out five batters in a row in the middle innings and added two more to finish with 11 strikeouts in the game. The Division III leader in punchouts added to his impressive 2024 total and now has 83 through his first 52.0 innings pitched this season. 

Cassedy improved to 6-1 while allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks paired with the 11 strikeouts. 

CNU added two more runs in the bottom of the third when Josh Reinhold reached on an infield single. The base hit was the first of four hits in the game for the second-year sophomore, who extended his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 65 straight games. Two batters later, Lincoln Lubsen nearly left the yard with a powerful blast to center field that caromed off the yellow stripe at the top of the wall for a double and put two into scoring position for Doc Daniels. The junior third baseman drove a bouncer into left field and plated the pair, giving CNU a 4-1 lead. 

The Captains broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth when they scored five runs on six hits. Reinhold again started the inning with a single up the middle before Zach Dzarnowski ripped a hard-hit grounder through the left side. Lubsen delivered again, smashing a double into the left field corner to drive in a run and Daniels added his second two-run double in as many at-bats when he followed Lubsen into the same pocket of the diamond. After a pitching change in the middle of the inning, Gus Croll stepped in and left no doubt with a missile over the wall in left center for a two-run homer, his third of the season. 

Taking a 9-3 lead into the final inning, the Captains faced a resilient charge from the visitors as Mary Washington scored two runs on a hit and an error in the final frame. The Eagles reached on back-to-back walks and an infield single before two runs came in on an error. The Captains then called on veteran relievers Kyle Lewis and Dylan Weber to close the door on the conference foe. First, Lewis struck out a pair before giving way to Weber for his third career save situation. Despite falling behind, 3-1, on the batter, Weber fought back to earn a game-ending strikeout to secure the save. 

Reinhold was 4-for-5 at the plate with two runs scored while Lubsen and Daniels each finished 2-for-4. Daniels delivered four RBI and a run scored while Lubsen came in to score twice and drove in one. Croll's two-run dinger highlighted the extra-hit barrage that included six doubles by the CNU attack. 

Christopher Newport slides into first place atop the conference standings with three games remaining in league play. Mary Washington is now 1-1 against the conference while Salisbury is 0-1. 

The Captains will return to action with a pair of weekday home games this week as they entertain No. 22 North Carolina Wesleyan on Tuesday, April 9 at 3:00 p.m. and No. 17 Lynchburg on Wednesday, April 10 at 3:00 p.m.