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BURLINGTON, N.C. — Fourth-seeded Christopher Newport University advanced to Sunday's USA South Tournament championship with a convincing 14-2 win over No. 5 seed Ferrum College on Saturday at Burlington Athletic Stadium.
Christopher Newport (21-13) will take on Shenandoah (32-6) at 12 p.m Sunday for the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. If the Captains beat the Hornets in the noon game, the two teams will play again immediately after the first game because Shenandoah is undefeated in the double-elimination tournament.
CNU advanced to Sunday's title matchup with an explosive start against Ferrum (20-13), which had to beat Averett immediately before playing the Captains. CNU jumped on the Panthers for five runs in the first inning, with three coming on Michael Romett's homer to right field.
The Captains increased their lead to 8-0 in the second with a two-run triple by Drue Vernon and an RBI single by Luke Saunders.
Ferrum got onto the scoreboard in the third inning on Justin Franklin's RBI single through the left side. The Panthers, however, only scored one more run the rest of the way and couldn't catch up to the Captains.
The Captains got a complete game from right-hander Tayler McElhenny (2-2), who earned the win after allowing just two runs on nine hits.
Vernon and catcher Ben Lenda each went 3-for-5 with two RBIs to lead Christopher Newport offensively. Shannon Mark and Connor Madden also added home runs for the Captains.
Ferrum, which smacked Averett in a 16-8 win earlier in the day, couldn't find the same offensive success against Christopher Newport. Franklin, designated hitter Charles Beacom and second baseman Jason Butterworth accounted for six of the Panthers' nine hits.
Tyler Easterly (2-4) took the loss after allowing 10 runs — seven earned — in six innings on the mound.
