Christopher Newport wins title
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Christopher Newport finished the USA South
tournament without a loss. |
The fourth-ranked Christopher Newport Captains (35-4) won the
2011 USA South Baseball Championship today, with its second win in
three days over top-ranked Shenandoah (31-4), 5-4. CNU scored two
in the bottom of the eighth and Drue Vernon drove in the
game-winning run in to lift the Captains over the Hornets.
"I'm just extremely proud of the guys," said head coach John
Harvell. "They really stepped it up this weekend, came up with
timely hitting and really just did what we had to do to win. We
battled all week and even when we got down, we didn't give up on
ourselves and we got hits when we needed them."
Timely hitting was indeed key for the Captains; down to the
Hornets 4-1 in the top of the sixth, CNU scored runs in each of the
final three innings to get past Shenandoah.
Catcher Ben Lenda cut the lead back to two with a lead-off home
run in the bottom of the sixth. Then, in the bottom of the seventh,
CNU manufactured a run to pull back within one. Connor Madden led
off with a single and was moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Vernon.
After a pitching change, Shannon Mark
The Captains then followed the same pattern in the bottom of the
eighth, tying the game up after Matt Shoemaker singled, moved up on
a sacrifice and scored on a Billy Steel RBI single to right field.
With the score knotted up at four, Steel moved up to third on a
groundout by Madden, setting up the game-winning stroke by Vernon.
The Captains senior outfielder stepped in and lifted a single into
right field, plating Steel, the go-ahead run.
On the other side of the ball, sophomore reliever Matt Verdillo
took the hill in the bottom of the seventh and pitched a pair of
scoreless innings before giving way to closer Ryan Fleischmann.
Fleischmann recorded his seventh save of the season by striking out
two of the most potent bats in the Shenandoah lineup, Greg Van
Sickler and Clint DeHaven. Verdillo earned the win, his third of
the season.
CNU wins their first baseball championship since the 2008 season
and the fourth in Harvell's coaching tenure. The Captains earn the
USA South's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and will await
the release of the committee's bracket including location and
opponent for the regional round. Stay tuned to CNUsports.com for
updates.
Steel was named the Tournament MVP, hitting .583 in the four games
with five RBI, five runs and two extra-base hits. He was joined on
the All-Tournament team by teammates Matt Shoemaker (2B), Luke
Saunders (3B), Connor Madden (OF) and Matt Verdillo (P).
