SALISBURY, Md. -- In an announcement made by the conference office on Monday morning, three Christopher Newport baseball players were honored as selections to the 2021 C2C Baseball All-Tournament Team for their work over the last two weekend's in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championships. The 1-2-3 batters in the order each collected the honors as Conner Clark, Jonathan Fisher, and Eric O'Brien hauled in a spot among the league's top postseason players. 

The trio led the Christopher Newport baseball team to the first ever Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship Series at top-seeded Salisbury after winning the opening weekend pod at home. CNU opened the tournament with a 9-6 win over #4 St. Mary's (Md.) before winning two out of three against #3 Mary Washington. In the championship series, top-seeded Salisbury would clinch the title over the Captains with a pair of wins this weekend. 

Leading off as he has throughout his career, Clark did his part in helping kickstart the Captains offense. He wrapped up the season with an 11-game hitting streak that will carry over into next season as he raised his season average to .317. He was one of only two Captains -- the other being Fisher -- to start all 34 games this season and he wrapped up the campaign ranked second in runs scored while leading the team in stolen bases with 17. 

During the tournament, Clark hit 11-for-27 (.407) at the plate with four multi-hit performances. He scored three times and drove in five runs while drawing a pair of walks. He added a pair of sacrifice flies as he raised his batting average nearly 20 points over the six-game postseason run. In addition to the usual strong effort from Clark, he also swiped a pair of bases to break the program's all-time record in career stolen bags. .

Hitting behind Clark, Fisher reached base in 25 of the last 27 games and was a constant threat to score for the Captains as he led the team with 41 runs this season. He worked the most walks, with 22, and delivered ten extra-base hits including four home runs. As the only other Captain to start all 34 games, Fisher was a reliable lineup entry at shortstop hitting out of the two hole all season long. 

In the C2C Tournament, Fisher rapped four hits and walked three times. He scored three runs and committed just one error in 22 chances in the field. He also dropped down a pair of sacrifice bunts in the win against St. Mary's to open up postseason play for CNU. 

Rounding out the All-Tournament Team selections was senior Eric O'Brien, who managed the full load behind the plate in six postseason games. Throughout the season, O'Brien caught 30 games while serving as the designated hitter three times. He was a first team All-Conference selection and concluded the year ranking second with a .336 average while leading the team in RBI with 31. He scored 26 times and walked nearly twice as often as he struck out. Over his excellent tenure, O'Brien finished second all-time for CNU with a .990 fielding percentage on 606 career chances at catcher. 

In this year's C2C Championship, O'Brien picked up six hits including a pair of multi-hit games. He drove in a pair and scored five times while adding three walks and one hit-by-pitch. 

The All-Tournament honors were announced by the conference office on Monday and included four Salisbury Sea Gulls and two players each from Mary Washington, St. Mary's, and Southern Virginia. 


2021 C2C Baseball All-Tournament Team
Salisbury
Stephen Rice - Most Valuable Player
Clayton Dwyer
Cam Hyder
Justin Meekins

Christopher Newport
Eric O'Brien
Jonathan Fisher
Conner Clark
 
Mary Washington
Ty Lowe
Caleb McAlister
 
St. Mary's (Md.)
Dillon Waters
Sam James
 
Southern Virginia
Nick Daynes
Mitchell Smith