Saturday, March 25, 2006

Buies Creek, N.C. (March 24, 2006) - Campbell pitcher Blake Herring tossed 6 2/3 innings of relief work, shutting down the ETSU bats, and the Campbell offense, silenced by the ETSU pitching staff for the first two games of the series, sprang to life for nine runs on 13 hits, downing the Buccaneers 9-4 in the series finale Saturday afternoon at Taylor Field.

For the third consecutive weekend, the Bucs squandered an early opportunity to break open the third game of a series.  Senior Chuck Hargis (Powell, Tenn.) and Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.) led off the game with back-to-back singles, but Camel starter Jeff Randol picked Hargis off of second base for the first out of the frame.  ETSU loaded the bases with still only one out in the frame, but a strikeout and a fielder's choice ended the scoring opportunity.

The Bucs (16-10, 6-3) pushed one run across in the third when junior Stephen Douglas (Kennesaw, Ga.) scored on sophomore Anthony Russell's (Waldorf, Md.) sacrifice fly, but again stranded a runner at third base.  ETSU left a man on third base in four of the first five innings, and five times for the game.

The Camels (8-16, 3-6) jumped on Buc starter Trey Sheffield (Alpharetta, Ga.) in the fourth inning, roughing him up for four runs on four hits.  After senior first baseman Mike Priest led off the frame with a solo homer to right field, Sheffield retired the next two batters, but the Camels strung together a two-out rally with a single and hit batsman and a two-RBI double to take a 3-1 advantage.  After a pitching change, left fielder Austin hatch singled home shortstop Jacob Allen for the 4-1 lead.

Campbell extended to a six run lead with a three-run bomb from catcher David Forbes off of ETSU reliever Tony Lombardi (Windsor, Calif.) in the sixth inning, and following a three-run late inning ETSU rally, sealed the game with two eighth inning runs.