NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WTKR) — If Christopher Newport baseball was going to set a new program record for longest game played, there was only one way to end it.
Captain sophomore Josh Reinhold smacked an RBI-double in the 15th inning of CNU's NCAA DIII Tournament Regional opener on Friday, walking off Immaculata 3-2.
"I'm tired," Reinhold said. "You just have to give it everything you have. I've never played a game that long, and shout out to our pitching and our defense."
CNU fell behind after the Mighty Macs plated two runs in the opening frame. Afterwards, its pitching and defense locked down the visitors with 14 straight scoreless innings.
"I don't know how many innings we were able to dodge," said CNU head coach John Harvell. "They had plenty of opportunities to score and inning after inning, our pitching came through."
In the third inning, the Captains got on the board on a wild pitch that allowed Jake Benedict to race home from third. The score stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Ayden Stuffel knoced in a run on a single back up the middle.
With two outs and a runner still on in the frame, Aaron Maxie delivered a shot to deep right field and looked to have tied up outfielder Sal Serici, but the freshman made a tremendous diving catch to end the threat and leave CNU fans stunned.
"That's what regionals are all about," Harvell said. "Our guys thought it was a great play and it was a great play, but our guys didn't allow it to deter them from doing what we were trying to do."
The two teams traded a few chances in the extra innings, but Reinhold's double in the 15th finally allowed the Captains to breakthrough.
"I was looking for one pitch and one pitch only," Reinhold said. "I was trying to get something on the outer half of the plate and send it the other way."
The shortstop was chased out to left field as the team poured onto the diamond, mobbing him after the game.
"I blacked out after I hit it," he said. "But it was super exciting, I loved it."
CNU (27-9) moves on to the winner's bracket of the Newport News Regional, where it will meet North Carolina Wesleyan on Saturday.
"It's all grit. We knew we had to have this one," Reinhold said. "The first one is always really important and the fact we pulled it out is awesome."
"You don't win this first one, it's a long road," Harvell said. "We knew what we had to do, and fortunately Josh came up like he has done before and we were fortunate to come out on top today."
