NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WTKR) — After coming up empty-handed in the regional round of the NCAA DIII Baseball Tournament the last two years, Christopher Newport finally got its breakthrough moment on Monday.
Behind a five-run fourth inning, the Captains held off North Carolina Wesleyan to win the Newport News Regional in a 6-5 game, advancing to the Super Regionals for the first time in program history.
"This is our third year in the regional final and we've been so close," said CNU head coach John Harvell. "I think a lot of those guys remembered that. So they were putting everything into getting it done now and getting over the hump."
Brandon Cassedy, who went six innings and threw 111 pitches against the Bishops on Saturday, came in during the ninth inning and shut down a NCWU rally with a pop up and strikeout.
Before that, CNU watched their opponents plate two runs in the frame to make it a 6-5 with two runners on.
"I wanted to come into this game and fight for my team," Cassedy said. "I wanted Kyle [Lewis] to finish the game but I wanted to back him up and be there as a teammate. To come in and do that, it feels amazing."
Down 2-0 early in the game, Justin Liakos got the scoring going for the Captains with a hard hit down that got away from the first baseman down the line, allowing Lincoln Lubson to come home.
A few batters later, Scott Crosson lofted up a single to right center field that allowed two runs to score and give CNU a 3-2 lead. In the same inning, Zach Dzarnowski hit a hot shot to third, a ball that gave Bishop third baseman Colin Scoggins trouble fielding it. Scoggins throw to first bounced off the dirt and into the stands, allowing two more runs to come in and grow the Captains advantage to 5-2.
In total, CNU took advantage of four errors from NCWU with six runs.
"If you look at our game yesterday, we made six errors and they took advantage of those," Harvell said. "When you get in this situation, it takes some of that to win a ball game like this and we were fortunate to have it go our way today."
The victory advances CNU past the regional round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. It's the programs fourth regional title, along with 2002, 2003, and 2012.
Focus for the Captains now shifts to the Super Regional, where they will face Misericordia. CNU got its second victory on the day after the game, with NCAA announcing it will host the next round with the first of the best-of-three series set for Friday.
First pitch for game one is set for 12:00 p.m. at Captains Park.
