#1 Campbell Wins Twice, Advances to Title Game
The Fighting Camels (35-15) swept a pair of must-win games over USC Upstate and Gardner-Webb to secure a spot in the Big South Championship game tomorrow against Presbyterian. It will be the Camels' third straight trip to the conference championship game.
Two Camels turned in big time pitching performances to earn wins and help keep fresh arms in the bullpen.
Thomas Harrington tossed 5.1 scoreless for the game one win, while
Aaron Rund nearly went the distance, going 8.1 innings in a game two win.
After the offense was shut down by Presbyterian yesterday, the Campbell bats began to come to life in game one against Upstate, and broke through for 13 runs against Gardner-Webb. Campbell tallied 23 total hits on the day.
Game 1 Recap
Harrington stifled the Spartan offense for the second straight time to pick up the win as the Camels advanced with an 8-5 victory.
Harrington entered with one on and two out in the fourth. After issuing a walk, he locked in and only allowed one baserunner to reach second base the rest of the way. He fanned four across 5.1 innings, aided by inning ending double plays in both the eighth and ninth. In his last 14.1 innings against Upstate, the freshman has allowed just four hits and zero runs while striking out 12.
The Camels jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with two in the first and another in the second. Packard and Wolf each delivered two-out RBIs in the first and Denning drove in a run with a sac fly in the second.
Campbell did leave the bases loaded in the second, a theme for the Camels in the game as they left 14 runners on base.
The Spartans answered with three of their own off Campbell starter
Ryan Chasse to knot the score in the fourth.
In need of a big hit, one that Campbell struggled to get yesterday, Matt Christian delivered in the fifth with a two-run blast to center field to break the tie and put the Camels up 5-3.
The lead was plenty for Harrington to shut the door on Upstate and keep the score where it was for a 5-3 final.
Packard picked up three hits in the ballgame to lead the Camel offense. Each hitter in the 5-9 spots in the Camel lineup recorded a hit.
Game Two Recap
Rund made his third start of the season and got knocked around early, allowing two two-run home runs in the first inning. The Campbell coaching staff chose to stick with him, a decision that paid off. He tossed the next seven innings scoreless, and faced the minimum in the fourth through eighth innings.
He was aided by solid defense behind him, as the middle infield duo of Wolf and Neto turned three double plays. Rund finished with a line of 8.1 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 0 BB, 6 K.
Down 4-0 in the first, Campbell didn't blink and responded with four of their own to quickly even the game after one inning. The scoring didn't stop as Campbell poured in nine more over the next few innings.
Of Campbell's 13 hits in the game, seven went for extra bases, highlighted by three triples, two from
Zach Neto and one from
Marcus Skundrich.
Gardner-Webb made some noise in the ninth, with two more home runs to cut the lead from nine to four. But the hole was too big, and
Fred Sisco picked up the final out for a 13-9 final.
Up Next
Campbell returns to Segra Stadium tomorrow for the Big South Championship against Presbyterian. The Camels will have to defeat the Blue Hose twice to claim the crown.
The first game of the day is scheduled for noon and will be available on ESPNU. With a Campbell win, game two would follow 50 minutes after.