BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The Fighting Camels walked away from the weekend a series win after a 6-5 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers Sunday afternoon at Jim Perry Stadium. The teams combined to use 13 total pitchers across the 8.5 inning contest that came down to the final batter.
The win improves Campbell to 9-10, while West Virginia drops to 10-8 on the year.
After over four and a half hours of baseball, the game came down to the top of the ninth inning. When WVU loaded the bases with nobody out, Campbell called on shortstop
Zach Neto to try and escape the jam and preserve what was just a two-run lead at 6-4.
Neto managed to do the job, inducing an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 6-5, before picking up a key strikeout and groundout to end the game and strand runners on second and third. It is his team-leading second save of the season.
Campbell's runs came in twos throughout the day, scoring two runs in each the second, sixth and eighth innings. In the second,
Lawson Harrill and
Drake Pierson knocking back-to-back triples in the second inning and each scoring to give the Camels a 2-0 advantage.
The Mountaineers drew even in the fourth on a two-run blast from Braden Barry off of Campbell starter
Aaron Rund. Rund worked 3.2 innings and allowed two runs, issued one walk and struck out four.
The Camels took the lead for good in the sixth after a bases-loaded no-outs situation yielded two runs via a pair of groundballs. Campbell tacked on two more in the seventh thanks to an RBI double from
Jarrod Belbin before a first-and-third delayed steal worked to perfection and allowed Belbin to steal home to round out the Campbell scoring.
Jake Murray picked up his first win of the year on the mound, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Neto earned the save while WVU's Chris Sleeper was tagged with the loss.
Belbin and Harrill both had multi-hit games and each reached three times, while Jordan paced the team with two RBI.
The Camels are back in action Tuesday night to face Charlotte in Kannapolis, N.C. That game will be at Atrium Health Ballpark, home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
