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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Seth LaRue homered and Travis Long earned the win in relief as Campbell held off Rider 2-1 Sunday evening in game four of the Campbell Invitational at Jim Perry Stadium.
LaRue's first home run of the season, a solo shot to left, put Campbell (4-2) on the board in the bottom of the second.
Long (1-0), a Fuquay-Varina, N.C. native, came on in the fifth inning with Campbell up 2-1 on Rider (1-2), retiring 10 of his 11 batters in the win. The senior tossed 3 1/3 with a single hit, striking out three. Long picked up back to back strikeouts to end a 1-2-3 top half of the sixth, and registered another for the second out of the seventh, retiring the Broncs in order again.
Rider had just one base runner after the fourth inning, coming on Justin Thomas' two-out single. Thomas reached again with a one-out hit in the eighth, but was thrown out at second by Campbell centerfielder Cedric Mullins.
Freshman Wes Noble tossed four innings with a run on three hits, three strikeouts and four walks in his first career start, and senior Coley Thompkins shut the door with his first save of the season, tossing 1 2/3 with a strikeout and a hit.
Rider's Vicenzo Aiello (0-1) took the loss, surrendering both Campbell runs on six hits with a strikeout and a walk. Chris Wirth-Kenyon, who was charged with the loss to Campbell on Saturday, pitched a scoreless eighth on Sunday.
After LaRue's homer, Austin Beard led off the third with an infield hit, and scored on Steven Leonard's grounder to second, giving Campbell an early 2-0 lead.
The Broncs made it 2-1 in the fourth when Lee Lipinski singled through the left side, scoring Greg Fazio from second, who reached on a one-out walk.
The Campbell Invitational concludes Monday with two more games at Jim Perry Stadium. Rider and Virginia Tech will square off at noon, followed by the Camels and the Hokies at 3:30 p.m.
Rider edged VT in a game one Sunday after a short rain delay.
Live stats will be available for all games, with audio coverage for all Campbell games on GoCamels.com throughout the tournament.
For schedule updates and tournament information, please visit the Campbell Invitational page on GoCamels.com.
Campbell travels to UNC Wilmington on Tuesday for its first road test of the season.
