BURLINGTON, N.C. – No. 2/2 Christopher Newport University advanced into the USA South Conference Baseball Tournament championship with a 5-3 victory over No. 12/18 Shenandoah Saturday afternoon.
CNU (28-6) got a two-run HR from Steven Lindemuth to erase a one-run deficit and put SU (25-9) into an elimination game tonight against the winner of the Methodist/Averett contest.
The winner of that 7 p.m. game will then have to beat Christopher Newport twice to claim the 2012 title.
The Hornets had the winning run at the plate in the ninth, but Captains reliever Matt Verdillo induced a Tucker Brown groundout and then struck out Dan Powers to end the contest.
SU had taken 2-1 and 3-2 leads earlier in the contest thanks to a pair of home runs. In the bottom of the second, Brown had a two-run blast before Joey Donofrio had a solo shot in the sixth.
For both, it was their second dinger of the tournament.
Sophomore Nick Santalucia (5-0) earned the win for the Captains, after seven inning of work giving up six hits and striking out five. Cory Nelson (4-4) picked up the loss despite holding CNU to four earned in 7 2/3 innings of work.
Nelson struck out four and allowed the four runs on 10 hits and one walk.
Designated hitter Nick Beall led a balanced offensive attack with two hits in three at-bats.
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