NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — After falling in a high-scoring and high-hitting 12-11 affair in game one of the Capital Athletic Conference baseball tournament, the No. 5 seeded Southern Virginia University baseball team lost 17-5 to No. 5 nationally and No. 2 seeded Christopher Newport University to wrap up the program's most successful season since joining the NCAA.
"I'm proud of this group of young men and how they continued to fight," commented head coach Logan Mann. "We are a young team and this is the first time we've been to the CAC tournament, but we'll be back."
Both teams combined for five runs in the opening inning, with CNU (32-8) coming out with a 3-2 advantage. The Knights (18-18), who played has the home team during the contest, found their runs by way of a Cole Critchfield single that scored Ryan Saunders. Saunders led off the inning with a double to deep center.
Critchfield was brought home two batters later on a Canon Anderson double to left.
Christopher Newport proceeded to score in each of the next four innings, including a seven-run fifth.
Trailing 16-2, the Knights put up three runs in the bottom of the seventh after Garrison Magee was hit by a pitch to score Bridger Taylor, and a Riley Daniels double scored Caleb Layden and Canon Anderson.
Despite the lopsided score, both the Knights and Captains recorded 14 hits. CNU, however, recorded four homers.
Senior pitcher Seth Burris threw 3.1 innings in the start, striking out a pair in the loss. Jonathan Soto wrapped things up in the final 3.1 innings, striking out four. The Knights' six pitchers only allowed nine earned runs.
