Newport News, Va. – After claiming their first Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) win against Marymount on Thursday March 19th, Penn State Harrisburg looked to pick up two more conference wins Saturday March 21st when they took on Christopher Newport. Things didn't go as planned for the Lions as they fell victim to the high powered offense of the Captains losing 7-1 and 18-4.
In game one, junior left-hander Derek Slagle (York Haven, Pa. / Red Land) took the mound for the Blue and White. Slagle pitched an impressive first two innings, before allowing the Captains to get on the board off a two RBI home run in the bottom of the third. Newport added another homer in the bottom of the fifth and brought home two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Harrisburg's lone score of the game came off a sacrifice fly by Kevin Kremer (Hershey, Pa. / Hershey) that brought home Cody Henry (Halifax, Pa. / Halifax). Christopher Newport took game one with a score of 7-1.
The Captains picked up where they left off in game two of the afternoon. Newport wasted no time bringing home four runs in the bottom of the first inning to take control of the game. The offensive onslaught continued for the Captains as they added twelve more runs in the next three innings to give the home team a comfortable lead just halfway through the contest. The Harrisburg bats finally awoke in the top of the seventh inning when Zachary Ottobre (Lyndhurst, N.J. / Hudson Catholic Reg) scored off a Brendan Miller (Williamstown, Pa. / Williams Valley) hit that resulted in an error by Christopher Newport. The Lions were able to add two more runs in the seventh and one in the top of the ninth to cut the Captains lead to 14. This is as close as the Blue and White would come as they fell in game two 18-4.
The Lions will look to turn things around Sunday March 22nd when they travel to Fredericksburg, Virginia to take on the Eagles of Mary Washington at noon.