Wednesday, March 24, 2010

BUIES CREEK, N.C. -- The two teams combined for 12 runs off of nine hits over a 52 minute first inning but Campbell took the lead 7-5 at the end of the frame and never looked back to defeat NC State 15-10. 

With the win Campbell (15-7) has won seven straight non-conference matchups as well as the sixth out of the last seven overall and  Campbell has also taken three out of the last four from NC State.  The 15-7 record posted by the Fighting Camels this season matches the best 22 game start in school history, matching only the 2001 season who started 15-7.

The first inning did not go well for Campbell starter Logan Self as his second offering of the contest was sent to left field by Kyle Wilson.  After Self was able to get Dallas Poulk out with a fly ball to shortstop, Andrew Ciencin sent the second home run of the inning to left center to take an early 2-0 lead.  Self allowed a single to Pratt Maynard and walked Drew Poulk but then Tarran Senay sent a 1-2 offering to straight center field for the third NC State round tripper of the contest and pushed the Wolfpack to a 5-0 lead.

As bad as the events were for the Campbell pitching staff it didn't turn out any better for NC State (14-7) in the bottom half of the first.  Chris Bangi led off the inning with a walk, followed by an Ellis Lowe single to right field.  Zach Johnson later knocked in the first Camel run as he reached on an error by NC State starting first baseman Pratt Maynard but still registered the RBI as Bangi and Lowe crossed the dish.  Later in the inning it was a Kevin Nelson triple to center field that brought around Zach Johnson as well as Alex Aycoth to score.  Cameron Nelson followed his cousin with a triple to right center that brought around Kevin Nelson to tie the contest at 5-5. 

That signaled the end of the outing for NC State starter Danny Healey but the scoring continued as DJ Johnson knocked a double down the left field line that scored Cameron Nelson.  Finally the scoring came to an end as Lowe came back up to the plate and reached on a throwing error from third baseman Andrew Ciencin to take a 7-5 lead.