NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Christopher Newport sophomore utility man Daniel Elliott continued to dominate on both sides of the ball on Wednesday afternoon as the nationally-ranked Captains held on for a 5-3 win at home against Methodist University. Elliott drove in three of CNU's five runs and tossed the last three innings to maintain the two-run cushion and save the 19th win of the year for the Captains. 

Elliott gave up just a pair of singles in three shutout frames to earn his fifth save of the season. He moves into the top-ten in Division III in total saves for the season and also shoots into a tie for ninth in program history in career saves at CNU. 

The Captains' second-year star lowered his ERA to 0.90 and now has 48 strikeouts in 30.0 innings pitched. He leads the team in appearances with 13 and raised his K/BB ratio to a nation-leading 24.0 -- he has now struck out 48 batters with just two walks this season. 

Prior to his heroics on the mound, Elliott also played a big role both defensively and on the offensive side of the ball. He drove in a pair with a laser into center field for a single in the third and added an RBI groundout to plate a key insurance run in the fifth. That would prove enough as CNU built a 4-0 lead before Methodist rallied to pull within one, 4-3. Elliott's groundball would provide the final tally in the game despite both teams putting runners on in all but one half inning. He also made an impressive defensive play in the top of the third when Christian Yarbrough thought he had a base hit into the hole on the right side. Elliott, playing second base, ranged to his left on a dead sprint and made a late lunge with his glove for the nice play. 

Moments later, Jonathan Fisher added another defensive gem to end the inning on a groundball up the middle. A seeing-eye bouncer looked destined for center field when Fisher made the snag up the middle behind the bag and flipped to Elliott for the force. 

Eighteen runners were left on between the two teams, with Christopher Newport pitching stranding ten Monarchs on base. Jack Anderson started the game and went 4.0+ innings with four clean frames before running into trouble in the fifth. After a pair of walks to start the inning, the Captains turned to Colin D'Arcy out of the pen. The rookie retired the first two batters he faced to nearly escape the jam, but a two-run double by Justin Blunt pulled Methodist within one, 4-3. D'Arcy promptly retired the next batter to close the fifth and keep the Captains in the lead. 

In the sixth, D'Arcy struck out the first batter and got the next batter to flare a low pop-up toward first base. Justin Bowers tracked the ball into foul territory and dove forward to snare the ball out of the air for the second out. D'Arcy walked one but then got another groundball out to close his day with 1 run allowed in 2.0 IP and a pair of strikeouts. 

In the seventh, Elliott came out and struck out the first two batters he faced. He would go on to strike out a pair in all three innings worked, including the lone 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the ninth. 

Offensively, Christopher Newport opened the game with a triple off the bat of Conner Clark for his 222nd career hit. After his fourth career triple, Clark was able to trot home on a sacrifice fly by Scott Crosson one pitch later. CNU scored three more runs in the third when Clark walked and moved to third on a single by Crosson through the right side. Bowers walked to load the bases and bring up Elliott for his two-run rip into center field. After a pitching change, Michael Martorano drove in what would prove to be the game-winning run with an RBI groundout up the middle.

Setting up Elliott's third RBI, Crosson continued his standout day at the plate with a walk and then raced to third on a double by Bowers. The two-bagger for Bowers was his tenth of the season and 20th extra-base hit overall. With the groundball to the right side, Crosson sprinted home and scored his second run of the game for the final tally. 

Christopher Newport, who moved up to No. 15 in this week's ABCA Top 25 and into the D3baseball.com rankings at No. 24, will now turn to face nationally-ranked Lynchburg for a pair this weekend. CNU will first host the Hornets on Saturday, April 9 at 1:00 p.m. before traveling to Lynchburg on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available for both games.