MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – The Fighting Camels scored six runs in the fifth inning and staved off a late comeback attempt from College of Charleston to win the rubber match, 8-7 and take the series Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.
 
Bryce Schares pitched the final 2.0 innings and earned his third save of the season to move the Camels to 13-14 and 4-2 in Coastal Athletic Association play. The Cougars fell to 15-11 and 3-3.
 
Campbell is 7-3 in their last 10 games and the team has won four straight series, putting them into a tie for second place in the CAA standings.
 
Zach Sabers got the start in his first action of the season. He allowed two hits and two runs in his 0.1 inning of work after working his way back from an injury.
 
Aidan Hunter started his eighth game of the year for the Cougars, and he went 4.0+, giving up five hits and five runs with three walks and no strikeouts.
 
CofC took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Avery Neaves led off with a double to left and Dariyan Pendergrass was walked to put two runners on base. The two came around to score on an RBI single from Dylan Johnson.
 
David Rossow replaced Sabers in the first inning and struck out the first two batters he saw to end the inning. He pitched into the sixth frame, earning the win and moving his record to 3-3. Drew Medley (0-2) was credited with the loss out of the bullpen.
 
Campbell worked its way back to tie the game at 2-2 with a run in the second and one in the third. Jett Music had an RBI single in the second, followed by an RBI single in the third from Jackson Thompson.
 
Thompson was the lone Camel with multiple hits, and he and Charlie Meglio both had three RBI. Johnson paced the Cougars at the plate with three hits and three RBI.
 
The Camels broke the game open with six runs in the top of the fifth inning. The first three batters reached base before Charleston replaced Hunter on the mound with Garrick Murray.
 
Murray faced J. Thompson first, and he sent single off the glove of the diving second baseman to score two runners. Andrew Schuldt worked a walk to load the bases for Joey Morton, who doubled to left field, D. Thompson scored, but J. Thompson was thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning.
 
Later in the inning, Lukas Schramm worked a walk to load the bases again for Charlie Meglio. He sent a bases-clearing double to left field to score three on the play and increase the Campbell lead to 8-2.
 
The Cougars cut the lead in half with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Rossow struck out the first batter of the inning before walking the next two. He was replaced by Lleyton Grubich.
 
Ethan Plyler recorded an RBI groundout before Landon Penfield was hit by a pitch in Grubich's first two pitches. Johnson and Payton Frehner recorded back-to-back RBI singles with two outs for the final runs of the inning before Will Baumhofer grounded to Meglio, who tagged third base to get Johnson out on the play.
 
Rossow's book closed with 4.0 innings, no hits allowed, two runs, three walks and seven strikeouts.
 
Neither team scored in the sixth or seventh innings, as Music came to the mound for Campbell from his DH spot in the lineup. Murray stayed on the mound for the Cougars in the sixth, and Alex Lyon started the seventh.
 
Charleston cut the lead to one with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Frehner walked, and Baumhofer followed with an RBI triple. Schares replaced Music on the mound after the triple, and he gave up a sac fly to Brent Gibbs for what would be the final run of the game.
 
Schares forced a groundout to lead off the ninth inning before hitting Ethan Plyler. He struck out Penfield, then Johnson singled to left.
 
With two outs and two runners on base, Schares struck out Frehner for the final out of the game.
 
UP NEXT
The Camels play the final game of their five-game road trip on Tuesday against Coastal Carolina. First pitch will be available on ESPN+ at 6:00.   
 
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