CLINTON, S.C. – Presbyterian College baseball jumped out to an early lead in its Thursday series opener against Campbell, but the visiting Camels pulled ahead in the fourth and grabbed the win, 7-2.
PC moves to 17-13 on the year and 1-6 in the Big South. Campbell improves to 22-8 and 5-5 in League action. The two sides play the second game of the series on Friday at 2 p.m.
The Blue Hose led 2-0 after three innings. The bats went cold, however, as Heath Bowers (5-2) earned the win with a seven inning, five-hit performance.
David Sauer (Irmo, S.C.) took the loss to move to 3-3. The junior pitched 5.1 innings with six runs (five earned) on nine hits. Ethan Wortkoetter (Greer, S.C.), Cole Norwood (Darlington, S.C.) and Trey Hayes (Belton, S.C.) combined for the final 3.2 innings and allowed only one unearned run. PC issued zero walks on the day.
Cam McRae (Darlington, S.C.) and AJ Priaulx (Warner Robins, Ga.) each posted two hits. McRae extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his reached base streak to 13. The senior and Peter Johnson (Seattle, Wash.) each drove in a run as well.
Cedric Mullins went 4-for-5 for Campbell.
PC drew first blood in the first inning. Ryan Hedrick (High Point, N.C.) walked and moved over on a groundout, setting up McRae's deep RBI single to left center for an early 1-0 lead.
The Blue Hose loaded the bases in the third, using a pair of hits and an error to fill the bags with one out. Johnson converted by hitting a deep fly ball to left that scored Hedrick on the sacrifice and gave PC a 2-0 edge.
Campbell tied the game in the fourth inning. The Camels capitalized on an error that moved a runner to third as Matt Parrish blooped an RBI single to centerfield. Brian Taylor then hit a sacrifice fly to center deep enough to score the tying run, 2-2.
Campbell moved ahead an inning later. Mullins hit a leadoff double before stealing third and scoring on a routine groundout to give the Camels a 3-2 lead. The Camels added two more run via sacrifice fly and a Matt Parrish single to take a 5-2 edge into the bottom of the frame.
Mullins tacked on another run to the Camels' total in the sixth, knocking an RBI single through the right side
The Camels scored a final unearned run in the ninth on an infield single.
Jay Lizanich's (Greer, S.C.) team-best 15-game reached base streak came to an end on Thursday.
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Campbell............ 000 231 001 - 7 16 3 (22-8, 5-5 BSC)
Presbyterian College 101 000 000 - 2 6 2 (17-13, 1-6 BSC)
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Pitchers: Campbell - BOWERS, Heath; RECTOR, Sam(8) and LEONARD, Steven. Presbyterian College -
SAUER, David; WORTKOETTER, Ethan(6); NORWOOD, Cole(8); HAYES, Trey(9) and McRAE, Cam;
BURT, Patrick.
Win-BOWERS, Heath(5-2) Loss-SAUER, David(3-3) T-2:36 A-157
Weather: High 60s, winds SSE 11 mph
