GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Campbell offense stayed hot to power its way to a 14-10 win over NC A&T Thursday night at War Memorial Stadium. The win is Campbell's 10th in a row, and the sixth straight game scoring in double digits, the longest streak since 2009.
The win improves Campbell to 20-12, 9-1 in the Big South while the Aggies fall to 12-20, 1-9 in the league.
Drake Pierson paced the offense with a 3-4, with two home runs and five RBI on the evening.
Jarrod Belbin,
Logan Jordan and
Ty Babin all went deep on the night as well. Campbell now has 41 home runs in the last 11 games.
Campbell tallied 17 hits for the second straight game, tying the second-most of the season. Five Camels had multiple hits, with Belbin collecting a team-high four and driving in three runs.
In addition to the 17 hits, Aggie pitchers plunked six batters and issued three walks to keep Camels on the bases all night. Campbell did not go three-up, three-down at all during the ballgame.
The offense started early thanks to a first-inning grand slam from Pierson as part of an eight-run first inning. Belbin capped the inning with a two-run blast, his second hit of the inning. The home runs kept the duo tied for their team-leading seventh homers of the year. Pierson would take the solo lead later on a solo shot in the fifth.
Ty Babin led off the third with a solo shot, his fourth of the season as he eclipsed the 20 RBI mark for the first time since his 2018 season.
After tacking on five more runs across the fifth and sixth innings, the Aggies began to fight back and make things interesting in the late innings, using a with a six-run seventh to cut the lead to from as many as 12 down to just five.
The Aggies loaded the bases in the eighth and had the potential tying run on deck with one out.
Garret Kangas came out of the bullpen to allow just one inherited runner to score and recorded the final five outs of the ballgame to earn his second save of the season.
Aaron Rund (3-1) turned in his second straight quality start, doing so on short rest to earn his third win of the year. The righty tossed 6.0 innings and posted a line of 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
A&T's Jaheim Brown (1-5) was tagged with the loss, surrendering 10 earned runs across 4.1 innings.
The teams are back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. for game two of the series.
Thomas Harrington is expected to get the start for the Camels.
