BUIES CREEK –
Logan Jordan's RBI single in the 10th provided the late offense Campbell needed to take down No. 11 East Carolina Tuesday night at Jim Perry Stadium. It was Campbell's first walk-off of the season, and first extra innings game since April 5, 2019.
With runners on the corners and one out,
Logan Jordan entered to pinch hit for
Payton Howard and sent the first pitch he saw straight back up the middle for the game winner and to hand ECU its first loss of the year.
Aaron Rund (1-0) earned the win after tossing two scoreless innings in the ninth and tenth. ECU's Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman (0-1) was tagged with the loss.
The Camels struck for two runs in the first thanks to a
Drew Winters RBI single, and a squeeze bunt from
Chandler Riley.
Drake Pierson tacked on two more in the second with a two-run shot to right, his first home run of the year.
After a pair of ECU RBI singles in the third, a costly three-run error by
Tyler Halstead in left field in the fourth put the Pirates ahead 5-4.
Ty Cummings was locked in from that point on, throwing the next 4.1 innings scoreless, allowing only one batter and striking out four. He turned it over to Rund who picked things up where he left off.
Cummings relieved
Hunter Loyd, an East Tennessee State transfer making his first start for Campbell. Loyd worked 3.2 innings and was tagged for five runs, but just two earned. He walked four and struck out six across 95 pitches on the day.
While Campbell used just three arms, it was a staff day for ECU who went through eight pitchers, none of them throwing more than 38 pitches.
Campbell's seven hits were provided by seven different players, with Pierson leading with two RBI, and
Drew Winters reaching four times.
Campbell has now beat a top 11 opponent two seasons in a row at Jim Perry Stadium, topping No. 8 NC State 7-4 last season. This time, a crowd of 1,141 was on hand, the seventh largest crowd in Jim Perry Stadium history.
The Camels and Pirates will meet two more times this year, next on Mar. 22 for a neutral site game at Fayetteville's Segra Stadium. The series finale will be late in the year, on May 16 in Greenville.
The Fighting Camels now await Butler coming to town this weekend for a three-game series. Friday's game will be streamed on ESPN+, with Saturday and Sunday available as audio broadcasts on The Varsity Network App or GoCamels.com.
