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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Heath Bowers struck out seven in 7 2/3 without a walk and Campbell held on for a 3-2 win over visiting Longwood Friday in its Big South opener at Jim Perry Stadium.
Campbell (15-2, 1-0 Big South) won its 12th straight game, tying for the second most consecutive victories in program history. The Camels also won 12 in a row in 1986 and 2013. Campbell won a school record 18 straight games in 2012, starting the season 23-3.
Longwood (6-9, 0-1 Big South) fell for the third time in four outings.
Bowers (4-0) dealt seven strikeouts without a walk, allowing two unearned runs on six hits. The right-hander has not walked more than one batter in a game this season, striking out at least six each time.
The win marked Bowers' 25th in his career, moving the senior into sole possession of second place on the Campbell all-time list, passing Wes Hepler (1999-02). Bowers also moved closer to Hepler's all-time strikeouts record of 258, finishing the night with 249.
Coley Thompkins, who earned a relief win at East Carolina on Tuesday, induced the final out of the eighth and closed out the ninth for his second save.
For the second straight game, Campbell did not walk a batter. Camel pitching has struck out 138 this season, issuing only 32 free passes.
Aaron Myers (2-3) took the loss for Longwood, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks in seven innings. Mitchell Kuebbing allowed a hit in an inning of work.
Campbell picked up a run in the first with leadoff man Cedric Mullins scoring on a two out wild pitch. Mullins, a junior outfielder, reached on one of his two bunt singles in the win.
After Bowers struck out Brandon Harvell and C.J. Roth to begin the top of the third, a Campbell error prolonged the inning and Longwood strung together four straight hits, plating two runs and taking a 2-1 lead on Kyri Washington's infield RBI single.
Campbell tied it up in the fifth when Steven Leonard's bunt single scored Austin Beard, who reached with one out walk, from third.
Campbell leadoff men reached six times on the night, including in the sixth, when Seth LaRue singled to left. After moving to second on Kyle Prats' sacrifice bunt and advancing to third on a wild pitch, the senior third baseman scored on a Myers balk, giving CU a 3-2 edge.
Longwood was retired in order in the seventh. Lancers reached in the eighth and ninth on a hit by pitch and a CU error, both with two outs.
Kyle Leady went 2-for-3 for the Camels, stealing two bases, while Mullins and Beard added two hits as well. Travis Biddix led Longwood with a 2-for-3 day, scoring a run.
The Camels and Lancers continue their series Saturday with a scheduled 4 p.m. first pitch, and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Campbell welcomes the College of Charleston on Tuesday, March 17, at Jim Perry Stadium before heading to UNCW on Wednesday for a makeup date. The Camels head to High Point over the weekend, continuing Big South play.
