BUIES CREEK, NC – Matthew Christian had a monster day belting two first-inning grand slams to power the Camels (6-4, 2-1) to a series win over Gardner-Webb (2-7, 1-2). Christian entered the day with a team-high nine RBI on the year, and drove in 10 on Saturday alone, four in the first game and six in the second of the double-header.
Given plenty of run support, the Camel pitching did its part and held Gardner-Webb at bay for most of the afternoon.
Thomas Harrington earned the game one win tossing five innings and striking out nine, while a team-effort in game two held the Runnin' Bulldogs to just five hits.
GAME 1
Gardner-Webb struck first, using three first-inning singles to plate a pair against
Thomas Harrington. But the freshman settled in after that and held the Runnin-Bulldogs hitless over his next four innings of work.
Down 2-0, Campbell wasted no time taking the lead. With the bases loaded, Christian got ahold of one and sent it deep to left for the first grand slam. That gave Christian his team-high third home run of the year.
Spencer Packard helped add to the lead in the third, hitting one to nearly the same spot as Christian for a two-run shot, his first of the year.
Bryce Arnold capped the Campbell scoring with a sac-fly in the fourth, his first RBI of the year to push the lead to 7-2.
Gardner-Webb added one more in the ninth, but
Ty Cummings limited the damage to just the one run and held on for the 7-3 win.
Harrington and Cummings combined to allow just three runs and three walks while striking out 11. Cummings earned the save for his 4.0 innings of work.
GAME 2
In almost identical fashion to game one, Gardner-Webb posted a run in the top of the first, before Christian dug in with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning. This time Christian took it 429 feet to straightaway center field to clear the bases and notch his second slam of the day.
Campbell's offense kept rolling from there, adding three in the second thanks to a Denning solo shot and RBIs from Packard and Christian.
Gardner-Webb worked back into with with three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to cut the Campbell lead to 7-5.
It didn't stay close long, with Campbell adding three in the sixth and two more in each the seventh and eighth to insure the win as Campbell went on to take it 14-6.
Connor Denning finished the game 3-4 with three RBI and just a single shy of the cycle.
Having used just two pitchers in each of the first two games of the series, Campbell had plenty of fresh arms for the rubber match and used five seal the deal. Beymer got the start and went 4.0 allowing four runs and striking out three. Kuehler earned the win for his 2.1 innings of work out of the pen. The staff combined to strike out 12 in game two.
NOTES
Campbell hit four home runs Saturday after entering the day having hit just six.
The last grand slam hit by a Camel came from
Zach Williams, who hit one in the second game of the 2020 season against South Alabama.
Harrington's nine strikeouts were a season-high by a Campbell pitcher, and were the most by a Camel since
Cam Cowan struck out 15 in the 2020 season opener against South Alabama.
Campbell entered the weekend with a fielding percentage of just .946. But the Camels backed their pitchers up against GWU and did not commit an error during the series.
NEXT UP
Campbell is back at Jim Perry Stadium Tuesday to host College of Charleston at 5 p.m. The Camels stay at home for the weekend as well to host USC Upstate for the second weekend of Big South action.
