NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- A pair of five-run innings proved enough as the 11th-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team picked up a 10-9 win against Washington and Lee University (15-16) on Thursday afternoon. The Captains improved to 22-8 overall after senior closer Kyle Lewis slammed the door against the Generals with five strikeouts in the final two frames to pick up his fifth save of the year. 

Taking on Washington and Lee in the penultimate home regular season game of the season, the Captains trailed, 5-0, after two innings before knotting the game at 5-all in the bottom of the fourth. The visitors swung back into the lead in the top of the seventh, 7-5, but a five-run bottom half was enough to build a 10-7 lead that CNU would not relinquish. 

Jack Braley took the ball to start the game and picked up a pair of strikeouts in the first two innings. W&L scored five runs on seven hits against the senior right-hander before the bullpen took over in the third. Sophomore Peter Hoenig faced just seven batters over the next two frames with a couple of strikeouts in a strong relief showing to get the bullpen started on Thursday. 

In total, five relievers combined to pitch the last seven innings and combined for 12 strikeouts. After Hoenig, junior Colin D'Arcy impressed in his single inning of relief as he nearly struck out the side in dominant fashion. He missed the zone only once in his 12-pitch performance with back-to-back swinging punchouts and a weak groundball to the right side. D'Arcy was followed by senior right-hander Daniel Elliott, who was equally formidable. Elliott sandwiched a walk with two strikeouts and then made a cat-like defensive play off the mound for the final out of the sixth inning. 

The seventh featured Danny Checkosky (1-1) retiring the first two batters quickly before the Generals scored two runs on three hits against the veteran righty. Junior catcher Lincoln Lubsen converted a highlight-reel pick off at second base to limit the damage and end the inning before the Captains picked up their fifth-year in the bottom half of the inning with five runs to put him in line for the win. 

Turning to the team's closer of the final two frames, Kyle Lewis ran into a little trouble in the eighth before a commanding ninth inning to finish out the save. After striking out the first batter he faced, back-to-back singles created a jam for the senior right-hander. One run came in on a groundball to the right side, marking the first earned run allowed by Lewis all season, and another came in on an RBI single two batters later. Clinching to a one-run lead, Lewis struck out the Generals' cleanup hitter and wrapped up the eighth with a flyball out. In the ninth, Lewis struck out the side including a game-ending backwards K on a wicked offspeed pitch in the zone. 

The offense caught fire twice in the game with five runs in the fourth and five in the seventh. Josh Reinhold was in the middle of both rallies as he extended his record-breaking on-base streak to 72 straight games with a multi-hit performance. In the fourth, he started the rally with an infield single to the hole between third and short and then moved up when Zach Dzarnowski was hit by a pitch. Lubsen then singled in Reinhold for CNU's first run to bring up Doc Daniels. Daniels executed a sacrifice bunt and reached on an error, loading the bases for Ayden Stuffel, who singled in another run. Rookie Jacob Koenig lofted one over the second baseman's head for another run and the line kept moving as, two batters later, Sam Benedict walked in a run. Capping the game-tying rally was Scott Crosson with a sacrifice fly to left that plated Stuffel for the fifth run of the inning. 

Again facing a deficit in the seventh, Scott Crosson led things off when he whistled a liner inside the first-base bag for a double. Reinhold delivered again, this time with an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead in half. Dzarnowski followed with a walk and the two advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. With Daniels at the plate, the Captains took the lead for good when the junior infielder laced a line drive onto the grass in center field for the go-ahead two-run single. 

Adding ever important insurance runs, Koenig singled up the middle to chase the Generals reliever and Daniels raced home on a passed ball. Eric Wilson then put together an exceptional at-bat with two outs, facing eight pitches and fouling off five of them before ripping a single into left field for the 10th run of the game. The base hit proved vital as Washington and Lee scored twice in the eighth for the final one-run margin. 

Reinhold and Koenig led the attack with three hits on the day while seven different CNU players logged base hits in the game. Reinhold was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI; Koenig was 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI. 

Christopher Newport is set to hit the road for three straight before closing out the regular season at home on Saturday, May 4 against nationally-ranked Salisbury. Before that game, CNU will travel to Mary Washington on Saturday, April 27 (2:00 pm), Lynchburg on Tuesday, April 30 (3:00 pm), and Randolph-Macon on Wednesday, May 1 (3:00 pm).