Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
Complete Game One Box Score
Complete Game Two Box Score
DURHAM, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com) – On Wednesday afternoon at the Durham Athletic Park, the North Carolina Central University baseball squad was held in check in doubleheader action by the Camels of Campbell University dropping both contests 8-2 and 15-1 managing just ten combined hits on the afternoon.
Game one was much closer than the final score indicated. In fact, it was a 3-2 contest with two outs in the top of the seventh inning until a routine infield fly that should have ended the frame keeping Campbell scoreless landed on the turf and the Camels pounced on the Eagle mistake to the tune of five unearned runs to put the first contest out of reach. The 8-2 loss spoiled what was a fantastic performance by starting pitcher freshman Jacob Russell (Winston-Salem, N.C.) who threw by far his best ballgame as an Eagle going six and one-thirds innings and allowed only three earned runs. All of this occurred on his birthday where the righty turned 19 years old.
The Camels jumped in front in the top of the first inning following a Jimmy Brenneman walk and stolen base, which led to back-to-back doubles by Josh Holskey and Alan Denman for Campbell to take a 2-0 advantage. Denman finished game one 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI.
Campbell got its only other earned run of the first contest in the third inning when Brenneman walked and stole two more bases followed up by a Holskey RBI groundout putting the Camels up 3-0.
For the next three innings despite getting runners on base, Russell and the stingy Eagle defense kept the Camels off the board until NCCU finally made its move in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Freshman Tyson Simpson, Jr. (Burgaw, N.C.) led off with a single but the next two batters would be retired bringing up sophomore Nate Smith (Raleigh, N.C.) who has miraculously returned after suffering a severe hand injury forcing him to miss 18 games. Smith crushed lefty Colin Parker’s pitch to right field for his second home run of the season cutting the deficit to 3-2 and giving the Diamond Eagles all the momentum heading into the seventh inning.
Sophomore Jasper Jones (Hookerton, N.C.) entered the contest with one and a man on first base and after issuing another walk it seemed like Jones would be able to avoid any damages after forcing a Cameron Nelson flyout and a Tyler Hutchinson routine infield pop fly. That’s when the Eagles came unglued and dropped the popup and Campbell used that unfortunate error to put NCCU away with five unearned runs and took game one 8-2.
Game two was never in doubt for Campbell University as the Camels scored four runs in both the first and second inning to take an 8-0 lead and never looked back. CU raked out six hits including Denman’s third double of the day.
Down 8-0, NCCU finally got on the board in the third inning thanks to a Ross Plummer single to left field which drove in freshman Dylan Drayton cutting the Camel advantage to 8-1.
That was the last run the Eagles would manage on the day on racking up a season-low four hits in the loss.
The Camels scored the final seven runs of the game and gave the Eagles the knockout punch with six runs in the sixth inning that included two home runs in the frame. Bryce Grady and Ben Fish each hit homers for Campbell in the sixth frame, while Erick Gaylord hit a solo shot in the seventh to end the game at 15-1 in favor of the Camels.
The four hits in game two are a season-low for the Eagles, the previous mark was set in the series opener against Georgia Southern who held NCCU to just five hits on Feb. 25.
Four Eagles accounted for the 10 total hits on the day with Simpson, Plummer, Smith, and Marrow all tying with two hits apiece.
NCCU (2-27) gets back to action on Friday, April 8 at 2:00 p.m. for another twinbill, this time against former CIAA rival the Trojans of Virginia State University from the Durham Athletic Park.
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