Top-Seeded Campbell Cruises to 20-7 Win over No. 7 Charleston Southern
The top-seeded Campbell Fighting Camels scored 20 runs on 18 hits to run past No. 7 Charleston Southern, 20-7, in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Big South Championship Thursday afternoon at SEGRA Stadium.
Campbell's 20 runs broke a 31-year-old program record for runs scored in a Big South Championship game (17-0, April 23, 1988, vs. Charleston Southern). That run total was also one-run shy of tying the Big South Championship record of 21.
Led by three-hit outings from
Matthew Barefoot,
Luis Gimenez and
Zach Minnick, six Camels collected multiple hits in the win.
Koby Collins drove in a game-high five runs as he and four other Camels (Gimenez, four; Minnick, four;
Spencer Packard, three;
Collin Wolf, three) finished with multiple RBI.
Both Collins and
Matthew Christian hit home runs in the win; Collins' dinger was a three-run shot, while Christian's long ball was a solo shot. Wolf added a pair of doubles and
Ty Babin also collected a two-bagger.
Tyler Anshaw and
Grant Harris each drew three walks, helping Campbell draw a season-high 12 base on balls.
Michael Horrell (9-3), the Big South Pitcher of the Year, earned the win, striking out six across six innings. The senior allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits and one walk. He sat the Buccaneers down in order twice, once in the second and once in the fourth.
Juniors
Jack Yusko and
Thomas Coggburn combined to pitch the final three innings. Yusko did allow a run in the seventh, while Coggburn tossed a scoreless eighth before giving up two runs in the ninth.
CSU starter Cam Weinberger was saddled with the loss, giving up 10 earned runs on 11 hits in his 4.2 innings on the mound.
In the bottom of the first, Campbell erased the one-run deficit quickly as its first five batters reached and later scored. Barefoot got the inning started with a single into center field, and then he swiped second. Anshaw followed with an infield single to the first baseman before Gimenez scored Barefoot from second with an RBI single to right field.
Packard drew a walk to load the bases for Wolf, who delivered a two-run double down the left-field line, pushing across Anshaw and Gimenez. One batter later, Collins scored Packard with a sacrifice fly into right field. Minnick rounded out Campbell's five-run opening frame with a two-out, RBI single that plated Wolf.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Wolf drew a nine-pitch walk. Collins followed him with an RBI double into left field, scoring Anshaw, who also reached on a walk, from second.
In the fifth, Campbell scored three on a pair of two-out singles from Gimenez and Packard. Gimenez pushed across one run while Packard drove in two, moving Campbell ahead by seven, 10-3.
Highlighted by a three-run home run by Collins, the Camels scored nine runs on five hits and six walks in the bottom of sixth to push their lead to 15, 19-4.
After entering the game at first base the inning before, Christian led off the bottom of the eighth and lifted a 3-2 pitch over the center-field wall, scoring Campbell's 20th run of the ballgame.
Up next, the top-seed Fighting Camels will face the No. 3 Winthrop Eagles on Friday, May 24 at 12:30 p.m. The winner from the Campbell-Winthrop matchup will secure a spot in Saturday's winner-take-all championship game at noon.