NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The nationally-ranked Christopher Newport baseball team scored in five innings and racked up 11 runs on 14 hits, but suffered a 12-11 setback to Roanoke College (7-5) at Captains Park on Thursday afternoon. Cameron Slough continued to swing a hot bat with a three-run home run and an RBI double in the game, leading a group of five multi-hit performances for CNU. 

The Captains jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings but a seven-run fifth for the Maroons flipped the scoreboard. Roanoke added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh that proved to be the difference as Christopher Newport clawed back within one before the end of the game. 

In the bottom of the first, CNU scored three runs on two hits and an error to build the early lead. Jake Benedict walked and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Sam Benedict, who reached on an error. Josh Reinhold followed with a walk to load the bases and Aaron Maxie ripped the first pitch he saw through the right side for an RBI single. Two batters later, Ayden Stuffel delivered a two-run single into center field to cap the 3-run first. 

The Captains tacked on two more in the bottom of the third when Maxie led off with another single. Doc Daniels blistered a groundball through the left side to put the first two runners on base. After Stuffel grounded out to the right side to move the runners into scoring position, Lincoln Lubsen delivered an RBI base hit into left field. That would bring up Slough who came through with the first of two mammoth fly balls in the game. The first of the pair stayed in the park, barely, as it slammed off the base of the wall in the deepest part of Captains Park and chased home Lubsen all the way from first. 

Roanoke started to chip away with two runs in the top of the fourth and sent ten batters to the plate in the fifth. The big hit came off the bat of Nate Prince, who hit a go-ahead grand slam for the Maroons. 

Unfazed by the rally, the Captains scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to get right back in the game. Stuffel reached on an infield single and Lubsen walked ahead of Slough. The sophomore catcher fell behind in the count, 0-2, but fouled away two pitches and watched ball one go by under his hands. On the next pitch, Slough hammered a high fly ball to deep right center field and it carried over the wall for a three-run homer. It was his second big fly of the season and his fifth extra-base hit. 

Following the home run, the Captains took advantage of two errors in the inning to score the game-tying run. Jake Benedict came in to score on a throwing error and knotted the game up at 9-9. 

The Maroons answered right back with a single run in the sixth and two more in the seventh to build a 12-9 advantage that proved imperative as Christopher Newport scored runs in the seventh and ninth to try and salvage the win. In the bottom of the seventh, Justin Liakos walked on four pitches and advanced to second on a single through the left side by Jake Benedict. After a groundball moved Liakos to third, Josh Reinhold came through with an RBI single into left field. 

On the mound, Eli Novario came on in the eighth inning and rolled through the final two innings for CNU defensively. The sophomore struck out one and allowed just one baserunner in seven batters faced to keep the Captains within striking distance. Then, in the ninth, Jake Benedict opened the inning with a lead-off triple and came in to score on a groundball RBI by his brother. Reinhold, representing the game-tying run, reached on a HBP but was stranded at second when the Captains couldn't come up with another hit in the ninth. 

Slough finished 2-for-5 with 4 RBI and a run scored while Maxie and Stuffel each recorded three hits in the game. Stuffel was 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored while Maxie was 3-for-6 with a run and an RBI. Rounding out the multi-hit performances was Jake Benedict, who also scored a team-high three runs after going 2-for-4 with a pair of walks. 

Ryan Morrison pitched into the fifth inning and Nate Toomey (1-1) allowed one run without surrendering a hit over 1.1 innings pitched. Marcus Dux and Colin D'Arcy combined to pitch the seventh inning before Novario closed out the final two frames. 

CNU will get right back to work on Friday as the Captains host the University of Hartford at 11:00 a.m. for a doubleheader.