Apr
26
Photo Courtesy of Christopher Newport University Athletics
For most teams playing in the CAC and winning the conference tournament has almost become dream like because of the consist dominating performances by one team in particular, Salisbury University. However, one team in the conference looks to take down this power house and believes they have the team to do it.
Christopher Newport is heading into the final week of the regular season and is having a historical season compiling a record of 29-7 and ranking as high as fifth in the nation. Following next week’s final regular season game against in state rival 4. Randolph Macon, the Captains will be hosting the first round of the CAC tournament.
The Captains have had success in the tournament before, however have come up short in the past and after talking to Junior first baseman Nicholas Baham, he is confident in his teams ability this year. “This year our team is much deeper” stated Baham and also explained to me how having four starting pitchers who all have been consistent this season and two of the top relievers in the nation all combine for a very tough pitching staff to face.
Although, looking at the Captains season, 23 out of the their 29 wins were decided by five or more runs, which could play a factor into the bullpens experience with close ball games. However, Baham did tell me he is confident in their bullpen because of guys like Joe Burris and Brian Owens who have eaten up most of the back end innings in ball games. He also said “the guys in the pen that haven’t pitched as much have all had a lot of experience in years past in Slough, Powell, and Aylor, so we feel confident running them out there against anyone, and they have experience doing so.”
Christopher Newport is currently in a spot to have an automatic bid to play in a regional and Baham seemed to think this will not a have an affect on his teams performance in the tournament. Baham also stated “We would like nothing more than a conference championship, especially if we can beat Salisbury on the way to that.”
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