NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — With the regular season Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference championship on the line, Christopher Newport fifth-year senior ace Dylan Weber saved one of the best outings of his career for 5th-ranked Salisbury University and led the Captains to a 6-1 win at home on Saturday afternoon. Playing in front of a season-high crowd of over 400, Weber struck out a career-high 14 batters in a complete game effort and lifted CNU to the top seed in next week's C2C Championship.
Taking on one of the most formidable lineups in Division III this season, Weber was all but unhittable against the conference rivals on Saturday. The lefty retired the first 13 batters he faced before surrendering the first base hit of the game in the top of the fifth. By the end of the game, Weber surrendered just four total hits and one walk while facing only four batters over the minimum.
With the win against Salisbury, Weber improved to 8-1 on the season with a 1.48 ERA. In addition to setting a personal high with 14 punchouts, the Sterling, Va. native also became the first Captain in program history to strike out over 100 in more than one season. He has now recorded a career-best 110 strikeouts this season and moved past Mike Cosby (370) for second all-time with 374 in his career. He also slipped by Cosby in career wins for second most all-time with his 26th career victory.
From the opening pitch, Weber had Salisbury off balanceas only one hitter managed to get the ball out of the infield over the first four innings. He struck out five the first time through the lineup and added two more in the top of the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Weber picked up strikeout number eight to start the inning before Zach Geesaman doubled to left center to end the perfect game bid. He induced a groundball out before an RBI single by Adam Tommer would provide Salisbury all of their offense on the day.
After the RBI base hit, Weber locked in again and added two more strikeouts in the sixth and one in the eighth. Despite a mounting pitch count, the southpaw star went back out again in the top of the ninth, looking to close out the complete game on Senior Day. Punctuating the masterful performance in thrilling fashion, Weber struck out the side to slam the door against the Sea Gulls for his second career complete game.
While their star pitcher was taking care of his side, the Captains offense built an early lead that would hold up with ease. CNU scored six runs on 10 hits against seven Salisbury pitchers in the game including single runs in the first, second, and third frames before breaking the game open with a three-spot in the fifth.
Senior Scott Crosson led off the game with a walk and would come around to score on a one-out RBI single by Lincoln Lubsen. In the second inning, Eric Wilson hammered a ground-rule double over the wall in right center to get into scoring position and moved up to third on a Sam Benedict single into the outfield. That would bring up Crosson, who celebrated Senior Day as the program's all-time in sacrifice flies and, on brand, delivered another with a long fly ball to center field to give CNU a 2-0 lead.
CNU added another run to take a 3-0 lead in the third when Zach Dzarnowski walked and moved up on a wild pitch. Sophomore Ayden Stuffel stepped in and smacked a one-out RBI single through the right side to chase home Dzarnowski for the run.
Weber continued to twirl his gem and the Captains offense gave him some insurance with three runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth. Dzarnowski kicked off the inning with a single to center and moved up to third as Lubsen laced a double into the corner. Stuffel executed a perfect squeeze bunt for a base hit to plate Dzarnowski and move Lubsen up to third. One batter later, freshman Gus Croll hit a bullet off the glove of the third baseman for an RBI single. The line kept moving with Wilson adding a single to load the bases before Benedict snagged an RBI base on balls to cap the run-scoring performance for CNU.
Lubsen led the attack going 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI while Stuffel had a 2-for-4 day with 2 RBI and one run scored. Wilson also had a multi-hit performance with two hits.
In the game, sophomore Josh Reinhold failed to reach base in five plate appearances, marking the first time in his career that he did not reach base. His NCAA record to start a career for reaching base in consecutive games ends at 75 straight, obliterating the previous CNU record by over 20 games. Reinhold is only the fourth Division III player ever to reach base in 75 straight games.
With the C2C regular season crown, the Captains will host next week's conference tournament. The first game will pit #2 seed Salisbury against #3 seed Mary Washington at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 10, before the top-seeded Captains await the winner in the championship game, tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Weber dazzles as Captains clinch regular season crown
CNU fifth-year senior ace Dylan Weber saved one of the best outings of his career for 5th-ranked Salisbury University and led the Captains to a 6-1 win at home.
