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DURHAM, N.C. (www.NCCUEaglePride.com) – North Carolina Central University’s baseball team was held to four hits for the third time this season and dropped its third straight contest after allowing the visiting Camels of Campbell University to rack up 20 hits and score multiple runs in five of nine innings on the way to a 20-0 shutout victory over the Eagles on Wednesday night at the historic Durham Athletic Park.
 
The Camels entered the ballgame with a team batting average of .325 and showed the fans in attendance on a cold, windy evening why Campbell is the top hitting teams in their new conference, the Big South.  12 different student-athletes for CU recorded at least one hit led by Jake Kirkland and David Olson’s three apiece, while nine players recorded at least one RBI, led by the same duo who both recorded five RBI as well.
 
Campbell drew first blood in the contest with two outs in the top of the first as the nation’s leading hitter Michael Felton ripped double No. 10 of the season followed up by a Kirkland two-out RBI single to put the Camels up 1-0.
 
After a scoreless second inning, the CU offense put the pedal to the metal with four runs in the third and fourth inning to stretch the margin out to 9-0.  The final dagger came in the fifth inning when Olson hit his fourth home run of the season, followed up by Nick Ray’s first bomb of the year to right field culminating in a six-run fifth inning as the lead grew to 15-0 in favor of CU.
 
NCCU did not record its first hit until the bottom of the fourth inning when junior Luis Diaz (Geneva, N.Y.) broke up the no-hitter with a single, but the Eagle offense stayed quiet as sophomore Troy Marrow (Lutherville, Md.) struck out to end the threat.
 
The Eagles managed to record a hit in each of the next three innings but failed to drive in any runs as the Camels added three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to cruise to the 20-0 win.
 
CU’s Kirkland finished the night 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, and five RBI, while Olson also went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and five RBI.
 
One of the nation’s top hitters, Felton, finished the evening 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored, and two RBI.
 
Diaz, Dylan Drayton (Raleigh, N.C.), Alex Moore (Greensboro, N.C.), and Deion Doubledee (Wilson, N.C.) were the only Eagles to record a hit in the loss.
 
Jacob Russell (Winston-Salem, N.C.) dropped his record to 1-6 on the year in the loss going three innings allowing six hits, five runs and finishinig with a walk and a strikeout. 
 
Campbell’s freshman lefty Curtis Linthicum earned his second win of the year with five-strong innings of work scattering two hits and two strikeouts.
 
With the loss, the maroon and gray are now 0-14 all-time against Campbell.
 
NCCU (10-25, 6-6) moves on to perhaps its biggest series at home since bringing the program back from its 31-year hiatus as arch-rival North Carolina A&T comes to the Bull City for a crucial MEAC weekend series.  Both teams enter the three-game set tied for second in the Southern Division.  The battle begins this Saturday, April 14 at 1:00 p.m. at the Durham Athletic Park.  Admission is free.
 
The NCCU Sports Network will be there for the entire series as the Aggies and the Eagles will go toe-to-toe with second place on the line.  Tune in at 12:45 p.m. this Saturday for Eagle Gameday built by Dayeco Construction Co. as Chris Hooks will have wall-to-wall coverage of the big weekend set.  Fans can stay close to the action on twitter by following @NCCUAthletics and by using the hashtag #NCCUbaseball.
 
Stay up-to-date with North Carolina Central University Athletics by flying over to www.NCCUEaglePride.com, the official website of NCCU Athletics.