DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University baseball fell to No. 16 Christopher Newport University 8-5 on Sunday afternoon at Owen-Fulton Field.

Averett (7-18) jumped on the nationally ranked Captains 2-0 in the first inning. With one out and the bases loaded, junior Neil Hutchens singled through the left side to score junior Kyle Vidano and sophomore Chase McKinney.

Christopher Newport (14-4) countered in the top of the second inning. The Captains took advantage of an error and scored five unearned runs to go in front. Averett got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second on senior Bradley Tickle's sacrifice fly, but the Captains answered with an RBI single to make it 7-3 in the third.

After CNU increased its advantage to 8-3 in the top half of the fourth, Averett closed the gap back to three runs in the bottom of the frame. McKinney's RBI single up the middle scored one, and Tickle added another sac fly to get the Cougars within 8-5.

Averett held the Captains in check the rest of the way but couldn't overcome the early deficit against its former conference foe meeting for the first time since 2013.

Vidano and McKinney each had two hits for the Cougars.

Freshman left-hander Ben Kimberlin had a solid outing in relief. Although he didn't factor into the decision, he allowed just one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Averett hosts Tufts University on Tuesday at 3 p.m.