Box Score DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University bashed its way into the lea d in the first inning with a pair of homers, but Campbell University struck back with a six-run inning in the second and held the lead from there to defeat the Eagles 11-8 on Wednesday, May 6 at the Durham Athletic Park.
NCCU (19-29) opened the evening with a recognition of its seniors, and head coach
Jim Koerner gave
Troy Marrow (Lutherville, Md.) the ability to collect his final start after being sidelined with an injury, before being replaced before the first pitch.
The Eagles put the first run on the board as
Mitchell McCrary (Mills Creek, N.C.) crushed a leadoff homer down the right field line, and
Christian Triplett (Wilkesboro, N.C.) followed suit with a two-run rocket that cleared the street behind the left field wall that put NCCU in front 3-0 after the first frame.
Campbell (28-20) came right back in the top of the second, with a six run inning capped by a grand slam from Cedric Mullins (Snellville, Ga.) to move ahead of NCCU, 6-3. Mullins collected his second home run of the evening with a solo shot in the fifth inning that stretched the game to 7-3 in favor of Campbell.
The Camels put together a three run inning in the top of the sixth that seemed to put the game out of reach, but the Eagles rallied for three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning with RBIs from
Eric Kimber (Greensboro, N.C.), McCrary and
Carlos Ortiz (Cleveland, Ohio) to make the score 11-7 through six complete innings.
NCCU drew within striking distance once again in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single from Triplett to push the score to 11-8, but that was the final run for the Eagles.
NCCU now prepares for a showdown with North Carolina A&T on Saturday, May 9 at the Durham Athletic Park with a trip to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Championships on the line.
The game will be aired live on the NCCU Sports Network, available at NCCUEaglePride.com, and live updates will be available on the official Twitter account of NCCU Athletics, @NCCUAthletics.
