CNU sweeps Chowan
Published 12:00 am Monday, March 8, 2004
MURFREESBORO – Christopher Newport University came to town and swept three games from Chowan College this weekend.
The baseball Captains grabbed a 5-0 victory on Saturday before sweeping a double header Sunday by counts of 5-3 and 7-5.
On Saturday, the Captains plated one in the second when John Corbin scored on an RBI-single by Trey Collier. That run gave CNU a 1-0 advantage.
Christopher Newport plated one more in the fourth (off a Dave Diebler homerun) before adding two in the sixth and one in the eighth to claim the win.
Eben Brower pitched the complete-game shutout, giving up only four hits on the day. Nick Anders suffered the loss for the Braves.
On Sunday afternoon, the Braves gave up five runs in the second inning and couldn’t recover as they suffered the 5-3 setback in game one.
Ricky Medina started the inning by reaching on and error and then taking second. Corbin doubled Medina home before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Diebler walked and then Jason Moody had an RBI-single to left to bring home Corbin.
Later in the inning, Charlie Hardie had a two-RBI double and then came around to score on a Matt Lewellen single that gave CNU the 5-0 lead.
Chowan got on the board in the third frame when Nick Hagler singled to centerfield with two outs and went to second on a passed ball. Scott Olsson brought Hagler in with an RBI-single that cut the CNU lead to 5-1.
The Braves added two in the eighth, but couldn’t catch the Captains.
In the final game of the weekend, Christopher Newport outlasted the Braves 7-5 in 11 innings. The Braves had trailed 4-1, but rallied to score three in the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. CNU scored one in the ninth to send it to extra innings before adding two in the top of the eleventh.
In the final frame, CNU started the inning with Corbin singling to centerfield. Mark Genovese then reached on an error, which sent Lee Kennell (pinch-runner for Corbin) to second. Both runners came home to score on a Hardie two-RBI triple.
The Braves had trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom half of the fifth inning, but rallied to send the game to extra frames. They plated one in the fifth when an Olsson groundout scored William Squires.
Chowan added three more in the home half of the eighth. Kenny Bragg started the rally with a single to center field before Matt Hill cranked a two-run homer. Hagler added the third run when his RBI-single plated Danny Lydon.
The Braves couldn’t hold the 5-4 lead, however, as Collier’s sacrifice fly plated Rob Quinn to deadlock the game.
The Braves (9-7 overall and 2-4 in USA South Athletic Conference play) will travel to Petersburg, Virginia to face Virginia State at 2 p.m. today (Tuesday) before heading to Ferrum College for three games this weekend.