BUIES CREEK, N.C. — Campbell baseball dropped Game 1 of the weekend Big South Conference series against Radford, suffering a 6-2 defeat to the Highlanders on Friday night/Saturday morning at Jim Perry Stadium.
For just the third time all season, Campbell was held to four or less hits, collecting four on the night as Tyler Anshaw, Koby Collins, Luis Gimenez and Collin Wolf each had a hit. Both Collins and Gimenez had doubles; Gimenez' two-bagger moved his season total to 13, which leads the Campbell sticks.
Zack Ridgely (2-2) collected the win, tossing six innings, while striking out three and allowing just four hits. The redshirt-senior allowed just two runs, one earned. Freshman Bruce Hudson earned his first save of the season, not allowing a hit or run over the final three innings.
Logan Heintzman (2-2) suffered the loss, allowing Radford's go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Campbell starter Seth Johnson threw five scoreless innings, tying his career high with nine strikeouts. He exited the game following the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead, but the Campbell bullpen allowed all six of Radford's runs over the final four frames, giving up eight hits and three walks.
The Camels struck first in the bottom of the second. With one away, Grant Harris reached on an error by the second baseman. With Collins at the plate, Harris moved to second on a passed ball before Collins doubled into centerfield, putting two Camels in the scoring position for Anshaw. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Anshaw laid down a safety squeeze bunt to plate Harris and push across Campbell's first run of the night.
Campbell tacked on another run in the next inning. Gimenez led off the bottom of the third with a one-out double down the left-field line, and then advanced to third one pitch later as Wolf singled through the left side. With Wolf on first and Gimenez on third, head coach Justin Haire called for the double steal, Wolf broke for second, baiting the throw and slid in safely, which allowed Gimenez to trot in from third for the first run of the ballgame.
Radford tied the score at two apiece in the top of the sixth with a two-out, two-run double by Colby Higgerson. The Highlanders scored their third run with another two-out RBI base hit in the top of the seventh
Campbell had its last chance to score in the bottom of the seventh as Collins led off the frame with a leadoff walk before advancing to second on Anshaw's sacrifice bunt. Freshman Waldy Arias pinch ran for Collins at second as Hrica moved him over to third on a groundout to short, flipping the lineup over to Barefoot, but he flied out to centerfield, ending the inning.
The Highlanders added a pair of unearned insurance runs in the top of the eighth to go ahead by three, 5-2, and then added an earned run in the top of the ninth to pad its lead to four, 6-2.
The Camels went down in order in the bottom of the eighth and again in the bottom of the ninth, suffering their third Big South loss, all of which have come on Friday night series openers.
Game 2 between the Fighting Camels and Highlanders is set for Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m.
