Grand Chute, Wisc. – Senior Chris Phaup (Newport News, Va.) went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a three-run homer, and five RBI to lead the Christopher Newport University Captains to a 7-3 win over the Trinity College Bantams on the first day of the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament at Fox Cities Stadium this afternoon.
The Bantams will play in a losers’ bracket game tomorrow at 2:15 (est) against the loser of tonight’s game between the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Chapman. Christopher Newport will play the winner of that game at 9:45 (est) tomorrow night. Trinity drops to 27-11 and the Captains improve to 32-7. In earlier first day action, Anderson defeated Emory, 3-1, and defending champion Eastern Connecticut downed DeSales, 6-3.
Trinity opened the scoring in the top of the third inning on a pair of walks by junior Angel Resto (Framingham, Mass.) and senior co-captain Jayme Dorr (Osterville, Mass.) and an RBI single by senior co-captain Kurt Piantek (Wallingford, Conn.).
In the bottom of the inning, Phaup followed up a solo home run by sophomore Jason Moody (Chesapeake, Va.) with a three-run blast after a Trinity error and a single to give the Captains a 4-1 lead. Christopher Newport added two more runs in the fifth frame on a two-run single by Phaup, and Captain reliever Eben Brower (Manassas, Va.) held the Bantams hitless over the final two innings to preserve the win.
The Bantams cut the lead to 6-2 in the sixth inning when sophomore Aaron Goldstein (Edina, Minn.) scored Piantek on a sacrifice fly. Singles in the inning by sophomore Andrew Fries (Dublin, Ohio) and junior Eric Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.) put Trinity runners on first and second with two out, but Captain sophomore lefty starter Mike Cosby (Suffolk, Va.) ended the inning on a strikeout.
In the seventh inning, Dorr doubled home Resto, who had led off with a single, and Trinity had runners on second and third with no outs, but Cosby again pitched out of trouble with a strikeout and a double play grounder to end the threat. Cosby allowed seven hits and three runs over seven innings before yielding to Brower who earned his first save. Cosby improved to 7-3, while Trinity junior right-hander Kevin Tidmarsh (Meriden, Conn.) gave up six runs but only three earned runs and seven hits in his seven innings. Tidmarsh records his first loss against nine wins.
| Teams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Trinity, Conn. (27-11) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| Christopher Newport (32-7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
BATTERY
TC- Kevin Tidmarsh, Kyle Cox (9) and Andrew Fries.
CN- Mike Cosby, Eben Brower (8) and Scott George.
WP: Cosby (7-3)
LP: Tismarsh (9-1)
S: Brower (1)
HR: CN- Chris Phaup (13), Jason Moody (2).
Offensive Highlights
TC- Kurt Piantek – two hits
CN – Chris Phaup – three hits, five RBI, two doubles, home run.