GREENVILLE — No. 9 East Carolina scored the final nine runs of the game as Campbell dropped its final midweek matchup of the baseball season 12-7 Tuesday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
ECU’s Evan Voliva (1-0) earned the win in relief, tossing two and two-thirds scoreless innings with one hit and one strikeout. It was the first appearance of the season for the redshirt junior righty from Currituck.
Logan Bender (4-1) took the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) over one inning of relief. Campbell lefty Phil Simpson went four and one-third innings as the starter, allowing two earned runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Senior infielder Christian Jones cranked a three-run homer to lead the Camels offensively. Reigning Big South Player of the Week Jeff Hahs extended his hit streak to six games, logging his third multi-hit outing over that stretch.
East Carolina (38-13) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. After Bryant Packard extended his hit streak to 29 games with a leadoff single, Dwanya Williams-Sutton launched an opposite field two-run homer for his sixth of the season.
Campbell (29-22) plated its first run of the night in the top of the fourth. Junior catcher Zach Minnick cut the Pirate lead in half on an RBI groundout, scoring Hahs from third. Hahs led the inning off with a double to left field.
The Pirates added a run in the bottom of the fourth. Second baseman Nick Barber laid down an RBI bunt single, bringing Drew Henrickson home from third for a 3-1 ECU lead.
The Camels scored six in the sixth to take their first lead of the game. Following a leadoff walk by Matthew Barefoot and a single to right center from Hahs, Jones sent a 2-0 offering from Jake Kuchmaner over the right field wall for a three-run homer, his conference-best 15th of the season.
Campbell loaded the bases immediately after Jones’ go-ahead bomb, as Minnick was hit by a pitch, Tyler Anshaw lined a single to right and Ty Babin drew a four-pitch walk. Third baseman Kyle Mehl laid down an RBI bunt single, beating out the throw from ECU catcher Jake Washer as Babin came home on the squeeze play. Bryce Myers drew a full-count run-scoring walk before Barefoot drove a sacrifice fly to right field to cap off the six-run frame that put the Camels up 7-3.
The Pirates regained the lead with six runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. ECU scored on a groundout, a Campbell fielding error, two wild pitches, a double and a sacrifice fly to take a 9-7 lead over the Camels.
East Carolina added three runs to its lead in the seventh, as Packard knocked an RBI single before Williams-Sutton crushed his second two-run homer to score the final runs of the ballgame.
Up next, Campbell is set to wrap up the regular season with a three-game Big South Conference series at Radford that starts Thursday at 6 p.m.
