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DURHAM, N.C. – Campbell homered three times and fended off a ninth inning rally to top North Carolina Central 15-11 Tuesday night at Durham Athletic Park.
Campbell picked up its fifth straight win to improve to 12-10 on the season, while NCCU dipped to 10-12 with the loss.
The Camels led 15-6 heading to the bottom of the ninth before Conrad Kovalcik's second home run of the game, a grand slam, to bring the Eagles within five. Ellington Hopkins followed with a RBI single four batters later to make it 15-11 before Erik Dowse shut the door.
A five run fifth put the Camels up 7-3 with back to back homers from Brian Taylor and Matt Parrish. Taylor belted the first pitch he saw over the fence in left for a grand slam, and Matt Parrish knocked the next offering out to right-center to make it 7-3.
It marked the first since 2008 that the Camels registered back to back homers (Graham Fronk and Ryan Hamme, 5/6/08).
Two innings later, Campbell put up another big inning with five more crossing the plate, led by Jimmy Monaghan's two run homer, his third of the season, to make it 12-4 Camels at the stretch.
Taylor went 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, four RBI and two runs for the Camels in the win. Adam Wyse and Junior Snow both scored three times with a RBI and three hits each. Zach Minnick and Parrish both extended hitting streaks to 13 and 11 games, respectively.
Alex Yarem (1-2) picked up the win in relief, going 2 2/3 innings with two runs on three hits and a strikeout. CU starter Zack Minnick worked three innings with two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk.
Grant Cain (0-1) took the loss for NCCU, surrendering six runs on five hits with two strikeouts in two innings. Devin Sweet, the Eagle starter, tossed three innings, allowing a run on two hits with a walk.
Kovalcik paced NCCU at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two home runs, five RBI and three runs. Trevor Theissen also went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run for the Eagles.
The Camels kick off Big South play at Charleston Southern March 24-26. Campbell returns home Wednesday, March 30, hosting UNC Greensboro. For tickets to all Campbell home games, please visit GoCamels.com.
