BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The No. 22 Campbell Fighting Camels scored nine runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put away Bucknell, 17-7, Friday evening at Jim Perry Stadium.

Payton Howard led Campbell (9-4) with five RBI, helped by a grand slam to right field in the eighth inning. Andrew Schuldt had three RBI as well, including a solo home run in the second inning.

Bucknell (6-6) was first on the board, scoring an unearned run in the top of the first inning. Schuldt's home run tied the game at one in the second before the Camels scored four in the third.

With the bases loaded in the third inning, Lawson Harrill doubled to left, scoring two. Dylan Koontz scored the other two in the inning with a single to right field.

Schuldt registered his second RBI in the fifth with a looping hit to right field to score Harrill. Schuldt's hit came on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. Campbell added one more in the fifth when Charlie Meglio scored Schuldt with a double to the gap in left center.

Howard singled in the sixth to score Trenton Harris, and the Camels' lead ballooned to 8-1.

In his first Friday start, Zach Sabers pitched a solid six innings, allowing only two hits and recording five strikeouts. He now has a 3-0 record this season.

Bucknell refused to go away, scoring the next six runs. In the seventh, the Bison scored three with a two-run double and a ball four wild pitch, bringing home the runner on third base. Jeremy Wiegman was called in from the bullpen and recorded the final out of the inning with a three-pitch strikeout. With the tying run on deck when he entered, Wiegman earned his first save of the year.

In the top of the eighth inning, the Bison would come nearly all the way back with three more unearned runs. Sean Keys doubled to score Jacob Corson and Nic Adamo, then Grant Voytovich singled to score Keys.

With their lead now down to 8-7, the Camels came to bat in the bottom of the eighth with the top of their lineup. The first two batters recorded outs, then the team scored nine runs with two outs.

Peyton Bonds walked, leading to a Bison pitching change. That was followed by a single from Dalen Thompson. The next batter was Jonah Oster, who hit a ground ball to the second baseman. He attempted to flip the ball to second base to get Thompson out, but Thompson maintained his speed and ran through the base. The Bison then tried to throw out Bonds at the plate, but he beat the throw while Thompson advanced to third.

Schuldt then scored Thompson with an RBI single to right. Meglio was then hit to load the bases. Braeden O'Shaughnessy then walked in the next run, and Harris followed him by reaching on an error by the shortstop.

Following Harris, Grant Knipp was up to bat for the second time in the inning, and he walked in the fifth run of the inning. Howard came up after Knipp and hit the first grand slam of the season for the Camels.

With Knipp and Howard recording the first two outs of the inning, all nine batters in the lineup crossed the plate in the eighth. 14 of Campbell's 17 runs came with either one or two outs.

Bucknell got the first two batters on base in the top of the ninth with a walk and a single, but Wiegman and the Campbell defense would retire the next three batters to secure the win.  

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The two teams continue their series on Saturday with a 3:00 start time at Jim Perry Stadium. The game can also be viewed on FloSports.

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