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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Heath Bowers registered nine strikeouts and Seth LaRue went 3-for-3 with two RBI to pace Campbell in a 10-1 season opening win over Northern Kentucky Friday at Jim Perry Stadium.
The victory made Justin Haire a winner in his head coaching debut and gave Campbell (1-0) a win in its season opener for the fourth straight season.
Bowers (1-0), a senior from Lillington, N.C., tossed six innings with nine punchouts, a walk, five hits and a run. The win marked Bowers' 22nd career victory, tying the senior with former teammate Hector Cedano for fourth all-time in the CU recordbooks.
Matt Jefferson (0-1) took the loss for NKU (0-1), allowing three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 3 1/3 innings.
LaRue singled in the third, fifth and eighth innings, also drawing a pair of walks in the win. The senior scored the game's first run in the second on a wild pitch after reaching on a leadoff walk. LaRue's single to right in the third made 3-1 Camels. He picked up another RBI single in the eighth.
NKU scratched across its only run of the day in the top of the third, tying the game at one-all after Caleb Lonkard led off with a double and scored on Cole Bauml's triple, one of the center fielder's two hits in the loss.
The Norse threatened again in the sixth when Bauml reached on an infield single and Cody Kuzniczci doubled to lead off the inning. Bowers then struck out his next two batters and a fly out to left, ending the NKU threat and preserving a 3-1 CU lead.
The Camels led 3-1 until the bottom of the seventh when the home team scored four, adding another three in the eighth to make it 10-1, capitalizing on five walks and four NKU errors.
The Norse issued seven walks on the day while committing six errors total. Campbell notched nine stolen bases, including two apiece from Anthony Lopez and Danny Pardo.
Coley Thompkins pitched two perfect innings in relief for Campbell, striking out the side in the eighth. Travis Long fanned one, retiring the Norse in order in the ninth to close out the win.
Brian Taylor also recorded a pair of hits in his Campbell debut, while Pardo drove in a pair on a pinch-hit single in the seventh.
The series will continue tomorrow with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
