Starkville, Miss. – Campbell suffered its largest loss since 2018 in a 19-4 loss to VCU in the opening game of the NCAA tournament. VCU was red-hot coming in, riding the country's longest winning streak and extended that to 22 games with the win.
 
Neither the Camel offense or pitching staff was particularly effective on the night, as Campbell was also out-hit 17-5.
 
The loss moves Campbell (35-17) into the regional loser's bracket, as the Camels will face Samford tomorrow at 3 ET, 2 CT in a win-or-go-home game. VCU (38-14) will advance to the winner's bracket against Mississippi State tomorrow night at 8 ET.
 
The Camels struck first on an RBI double from Collin Wolf to plate Packard in the second. Wolf advanced to third with nobody out, but Campbell couldn't bring him in and add any more in the frame.
 
VCU responded by breaking the game open early with a seven-run second inning. The Rams plated five runs before the Camels recorded an out in the frame. They used a home run, three singles, three walks and two hit batters in the inning while sending 13 batters to the plate.
 
Ty Babin gave the Camels a sign of life with his first career home run to lead off the third, an opposite field shot to left. But VCU responded again, this time with back-to-back home runs to begin the bottom half of the fourth. They'd go on to score two more in the frame and extend the lead to 11-2 through just four innings.
 
The offense wasn't done for the Rams, who added six more in the fifth, including a grand slam from Hogan Brown, and two more in the sixth on a two-run blast and pushed the lead to 19-2.
 
Campbell added two runs across the seventh and ninth innings, but it was far too-little-too-late, as the Camels fell 19-4. Wolf paced the offense with a pair of hits and an RBI. Of Campbell's five hits on the day, three went for extra bases.
 
Five Camels appeared on the mound, with starter Thomas Harrington taking the loss after allowing seven runs in 1.0+ innings. Cameron O'Brien worked the final two innings scoreless and struck out a career-high four batters, including all three in the seventh.
 
The 15-run loss is the largest for Campbell since falling to NC State 21-4 on March 3, 2018. It is also the largest tournament loss in program history, surpassing the previous mark of 13 runs in a 18-5 loss to Georgia in the opening game of the Athens Regional in 2018.
 
The Campbell season will be on the line tomorrow against Samford at 3 ET, who fell today 8-4 to Mississippi State in the first game of the regional. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.