BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Campbell hits the road to take on Charleston Southern in another Big South series set for Friday and Saturday. 

LEADING OFF

• Winners of seven straight and 13 of its last 14, Campbell enters the Charleston Southern matchup after sweeping Presbyterian at home last weekend
• The Camels improved to 26-9 overall and a league leading record of 8-1 in Big South play
• Campbell earned a pair of 8-0 run-rule wins over the Blue Hose, marking the first shutout wins of the season
• The Camels hit .435 as a team in the PC series, led by Claudia Ware who went 6-of-7 (.857), Savannah White 4-of-6 (.667) and Madilyn Gillespie 3-of-5 (.600) with all three earning three RBI
• The Fighting Camels are back-to-back Big South Regular Season and Conference Tournament Championships bringing in a new coaching staff headed by Trena Prater. A Louisiana State graduate, Prater has spent her last four years as the associate head coach at the University of Iowa
• Henault leads the Camels at the plate with a .374 batting average and 34 hits. Four additional Camels are batting over .300 including Lindsey Hunt (.354), Madilyn Gillespie (.343), Makayla McClain (.322) and Allyiah Swiney (.309)
• Isabella Smith and Kayla Howald lead the Camels in the circle. Smith holds a 15-6 record with a 1.76 ERA, 142 strikeouts and a .193 batting average against in 131.0 innings while Howald holds a 7-3 record, 2.54 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 74.1 innings of work

SERIES HISTORY

• CHARLESTON SOUTHERN: Campbell leads series 60-43-1, last meeting - 2022

SMITH SHINING IN THE CIRCLE

• Redshirt sophomore Isabella Smith has become one of the top pitchers in the country
• The Raleigh native leads the country with 142.2 innings pitched and ranks 8th nationally with 158 strikeouts and 4th with 17 wins
• In the series against USC Upstate, Smith became the 11th Campbell pitcher to record 300 strikeouts or more in her career
• Smith has tied her career-high with 12 strikeouts twice this season (vs. Rider and NC State) and has posted double-digit strikeouts seven times overall this year

SMITH, GILLESPIE EARN WEEKLY HONORS

• Isabella Smith and Madilyn Gillespie earned Big South weekly honors for their performances the week of 4/3
• Smith went 2-0 on the week with a solo and combined shutout. She pitched 11.2 innings, allowing five total hits, no earned runs, issued one walk and totaled 16 strikeouts
• In the series opener against Prebsyterian, Smith tossed Campbell's first complete game shutout of the season in a 8-0 (5 inn.) win. She struck out seven batters and allowed just one hit in the win. She returned for the second game of the doubleheader, tossing 2.2 innings in relief, recording four strikeouts and picked up her third save of the season in a 5-3 win
• The Raleigh, N.C. native started and combined for another shutout 8-0 (5 inn.) win over the Blue Hose in the series finale on Sunday. She pitched the first four innings, struck out five and allowed only two hits
• Gillespie hit .600 (3-for-5) on the week, recording one triple, three RBI and scoring three runs. She held a 1.000 slugging percentage, .750 on base percentage and made 14 putouts with one assist playing at first
• In the series opener against Presbyterian, Gillespie went 1-for-1 with two runs, one RBI and two walks. In the next game she went 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI to help Campbell secure the series. Gillespie went 1-for-1 again with one RBI on Sunday to sweep the Blue Hose

IN THE NATIONAL RANKS

• No. 1 - Isabella Smith, 142.2 total innings pitched
• No. 4 - Isabella Smith, 17 wins
• No. 8 - Isabella Smith, 158 strikeouts
• No. 8  - 0.43 triples per game
• No. 9 - Tyra Parker, 5 triples
• No. 9 - Makayla McClain, 5 triples
• No. 22 - 70 total stolen bases
• No. 27 - 2.0 stolen bases per game
• No. 36 - 2.95 strikeout-to-walk ratio
• No. 47 - Makayla McClain, 17 stolen bases
• No. 39 - 2.27 ERA
• No. 54 - 0.298 Batting average
• No. 58 - Isabella Smith, 1.62 ERA
• No. 61 - 0.378 on base %
• No. 76 - Madilyn Gillespie, 0.489 on base %

SCOUTING CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

• Charleston Southern owns a 13-18 overall record with a 3-5 mark in Big South play
• The Buccaneers took two of three games at Radford last weekend and split a doubleheader against College of Charleston on Wednesday
• Graduate infielder Ashley Meckley leads the Bucs with a .268 average, totaling 26 hits, eight RBI and 11 stolen bases
• Senior pitcher Annah Junge leads the Bucs with a 3.23 ERA, recording 98 strikeouts in 120.0 innings
• The Buccaneers were picked to finish fifth in the Big South preseason poll
• Christi Musser is the head coach for Charleston Southern, leading the Bucs to a 52-71 record through three seasons

UP NEXT

• Campbell heads to NC A&T for a doubleheader on Tuesday before hosting Gardner-Webb in a weekend series