HIGH POINT, N.C. – Campbell kept its season alive with wins dramatic wins over Gardner-Webb and USC Upstate Friday in the Big South tournament. The Camels walked-off against GWU in the first game, and returned four hours later to get another late-inning win against Upstate to advance to the championship against Charleston Southern Saturday at noon.
 
After dropping the tournament opener, Campbell battled out of the losers bracket and will have to beat Charleston Southern twice tomorrow to claim the Big South title.
 
Game 1 Recap – Campbell 4-3
The day started with a bang thanks to Jarrod Belbin taking the first pitch he saw out to right field for a leadoff home run. Gardner-Webb took its first lead of the day with a pair of runs in the third inning, but Lawson Harrill evened things with an RBI single in the fifth.
 
GWU plated its third and final run in the sixth on a wild pitch. Zach Neto erased the brief lead with an RBI single in the seventh to tie things up.
 
Ty Cummings was huge on the mound for the Camels down the stretch, stranding two in the eighth and leaving the bases loaded in the ninth to keep things tied heading to the final half inning.
 
Campbell had struggled to string hits together, but tallied three straight singles in the ninth, from Halstead, Belbin, and culminating with a Harrill single to left to win it 4-3.
 
Kuehler turned in another strong start, tossing 6.0 innings and striking out 10 for the third straight time. Cameron O'Brien pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of middle relief to connect Kuehler and Cummings.
 
Belbin paced the offense with three hits while Neto and Harrill added two each. The trio at the top of the order accounted for all four RBI in the game as well.
 
Game 2 Recap – Campbell 11-8
It was a back-and-forth affair deep into Friday night between the Camels and Spartans in a four-hour game that saw Campbell win it 11-8 just before midnight.
 
Upstate got off to a roaring start scoring four in the top of the first and bouncing Campbell starter Aaron Rund after just 0.2 innings of work. But the 4-0 lead did not last when the Camels countered with five of their own in the home half of the frame to take a 1-0 lead.
 
The first-inning rally began with a Neto two-out single to start the offense. After an error and RBI helped plate two runs, Ty Babin put the Camels ahead with a three-run blast to right field.
 
The teams exchanged runs in the third, and exchanged three-spots in the fifth. Upstate scored with a little help from the Camels via error and wild pitch to bring in two runs and put the Spartans up 8-6 at the time.
 
Campbell again had the answer in the home half, beginning with an RBI double off the wall from Waldy Arias, followed by an RBI from Halstead to set up a Belbin solo blast, his second HR of the day and 17^th of the season.
 
Ryan Chasse took over on the mound in the fifth and allowed one inherited runner to score before tossing 3.0 scoreless innings to earn the win. Chasse found himself in trouble with two on and one out in the eighth and was relieved by Zach Neto.
 
Neto, who hadn't pitched since Mar. 20 made just his fourth appearance of the year and got the job done. He got a strikeout and grounder to escape the eighth unharmed and struck out two more in the ninth to get his third save of the season.
 
Four different players tallied multi-hit games to make up Campbell's 13-hit attack in addition to working seven walks. Dalen Thompson made his postseason debut and drove in an important insurance run in his first postseason at-bat in the eighth.
 
Up Next
Campbell returns to Truist Point to face fifth-seeded Charleston Southern in the Big South Championship game Saturday at noon. Campbell will have to beat CSU twice for the title. The game is set to air on ESPNU, as well as on the radio with a stream on GoCamels.com.