NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WTKR) — Christopher Newport got the rock solid outing from its starting pitcher on Friday, but couldn't do enough at the plate to help take game one of its Super Regional matchup.
Despite Brandon Cassedy giving up just five hits in eight innings, the Captains fell to Misericordia 3-1 at Captains Park.
"You have an outing like that from Brandon Cassedy, you win the ballgame," said CNU head coach John Harvell. "You got to limit a team like that and not mistakes and give them opportunities. A couple of their runs, we gave them opportunities."
At the plate, the home team couldn't figure out how to get to Cougar starting pitcher Joe Valenti, who went seven innings and struck out eight batters while surrendering just four hits.
CNU got the scoring started in the game on an opposite field home run from Scott Crosson in the third inning, but notched just two hits the rest of the way.
The Captains had their chances, stranding seven runners on base in the game.
"I don't think we strung together a good back-to-back all game, but that's a credit to their pitching," Harvell said. "We just got to do a better job adjusting to their pitching and limiting our mistakes and their opportunities at scoring."
Holding a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, Misericordia's Jason Sanfilippo stole third base then came around to score when the throw from Lincoln Lubsen went high and into left field.
Two innings later, an Owen Cordner single to center field allowed the visitors to score again and take a 2-1 lead. In the eighth, another base knock up the middle by Joe Comins brought in an insurance run to make it a 3-1 game.
Cassedy ultimately threw 111 pitches, striking out five hitters and allowing three runs for the Captains.
CNU now faces a must-win game two on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. If the Captains come away with a victory, the two teams will meet again in a winner-take-all contest at 2:30 p.m. that same day.
"You got to have a short memory. You have to come back tomorrow and you know you have to win two games," Harvell said. "We've played a lot of doubleheaders this season so the environment won't be strange to us. It just comes down to us playing cleaner baseball."
