Led by stellar pitching performances from aces Thomas Packert and Connor Reeves, the Christopher Newport and Salisbury baseball teams posted victories in the opening round of their respective NCAA Regionals that stretched late into the night on Thursday. 

At the NCAA South Regional in Holly Springs, N.C., fourth-seeded Christopher Newport defeated third-seeded Denison 5-1 behind Packert's ninth win of the season on the mound. It marked the Captains first NCAA Tournament victory since 2012. Packert improved to 9-1 after a dominating 7-inning performance in which he didn't allow a single ball into the outfield on a fly. He struck out eight batters and induced nine groundball outs with three infield pop-ups. 
 
The Captains registered 14 hits in the game and stranded 21 runners on base, but did enough against the Big Red's top two pitchers to advance in the championship bracket. Five Captains registered multi-hit games, led by a three-hit performance from freshman Connor Clark (3-for-6).

The Captains will next take on second-seeded TCNJ on Friday at 7 p.m. TCNJ earned earned a 5-2 win over fifth-seeded Alvernia in the opening round.

At the NCAA New York Regional in Auburn, N.Y., second-seeded Salisbury outlasted seventh-seeded St. Joseph's (L.I.) 3-2 in 10 innings. The Sea Gulls walked off in the bottom of the 10th off an RBI single from pinch-hitter Simon Palenchar. Palenchar poked a blooping single to shallow left field that scored Joe Doherty from third base to seal the win for SU. 

Reeves was superb on the mound for the Sea Gulls, lasting the full 10.0 innings and striking out 10 while allowing just seven hits and one earned run. He also walked just one batter throughout the contest, and has now improved to 14-3 on the year. 

Up next for the Sea Gulls is third-seeded Southern Maine on Friday at 7:45 p.m. Southern Maine downed sixth-seeded Amherst 3-2 in Thursday's opening round.