The University of Mary Washington Baseball Team fell to second-ranked Christopher Newport University, 19-7, in game two of the CAC Tournament after defeating York, 16-6, in game one held in Newport News, VA. The Eagles will head into Saturday with a record of 1-1 in tournament play.
In the top of the first inning, CNU got out to a 1-0 advantage. The Eagles came right back in the bottom of the inning to score two runs and take the lead 2-1. Stephen Johnston led off the inning with a single, and Tyler Ray followed up with a single of his own. Christian Hague doubled down the left field line to score Johnston and then Kevin France came up with a single to score Ray.
After CNU put up a four-spot in the second inning, UMW responded with five of their own in that same inning to hold a 7-5 lead. Garrett Lyons led off the inning with a walk. He advanced to third after two outs recorded, and Johnston then walked. Ray singled home Lyons to put the deficit at two, and then with one swing of the bat by Hague the Eagles found themselves ahead 6-5 as he homered to bring home both Johnston and Ray. UMW wasn't done there as France kept the rally alive with two outs as he singled up the middle. Norman Holcomb followed up with a double, and then Marcel Barrett drove in France to give UMW a two run lead.
From there, the Captains scored three in the third, one in the fourth and five in the fifth to take a 14-7 lead. They added five runs in the last three innings. UMW recorded 11 hits in the game, nine coming in the first two innings.
Ray led the team with three hits while also scoring two runs. Hague collected four RBI's in the game.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday as they will play CNU at 11 p.m. in a possible elimination game. If UMW wins the first game, then there will be a winner-take-all game shortly after to decide who will play in the Capital Athletic Conference Championship Series.
