Baseball Opens Conference Tournament On Thursday Afternoon

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College Baseball team begins its pursuit for the Ingles Big South Baseball Championship on Thursday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. against the league champion Campbell from Segra Stadium in Fayetteville, N.C… Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: No. 4 Presbyterian (19-21, 18-16 Big South) vs No.1 Campbell (33-14, 28-9 Big South)
WHERE: Segra Stadium (Fayetteville, N.C.)
WHEN: Thursday May 27, 2021 (3:00 p.m.)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Campbell Leads 20-4

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Statbroadcast.com
VIDEO: ESPN3
LISTEN: Fox Sports 98.3 FM
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

ON THE MOUND
Thursday
PC – LHP Charlie McDaniel (3-2, 5.25 ERA, 26 K)
CAM – RHP Cade Kuehler (5-1, 3.46 ERA, 38 K)

About the Blue Hose
• Behind a seven-for-eight day at the plate by freshman Jay Wetherington, the Presbyterian College baseball team earned a split in Friday's twin bill with Winthrop at the Winthrop Ballpark. PC took game one 7-6 and the host Eagles won the finale 13-12 in 11 innings.
• Wetherington had three hits including two triples in game one and added four hits with two doubles and a home run in the finale.
• In game one on Friday, Wetherington became the second Blue Hose in the DI era to record two triples in a game and the first since Carl Della Torre did it in 2010 against N.C. Central.

Three Blue Hose Earn League Honors
• Three Presbyterian College baseball players received postseason honors from the Big South on Tuesday, as the league announced its annual awards.
• Catcher Jake Wyandt received second team recognition on the all-conference team and was all named to the league's all-academic team. Junior Eric Toth was named to the second team all-conference as a utility player by the league's coaches.
• Outfielder Zacchaeus Rasberry received honorable mention to the all-conference team.

Big South Tournament History
• PC enters its fourth Big South Championship on Thursday as the Blue Hose are 4-6 all-time in their previous three tournaments.
• PC's best tournament performance was in 2017 when the Blue Hose were able to advance to the league championship before dropping a 9-2 decision to Radford in the championship game.

Scouting Campbell
• Campbell comes into the tournament Thursday riding a 10-game win streak following a three-game sweep of High Point to close out the regular season. The Camels have won 13 of their final 14 games to finish the 2021 regular season. Campbell comes into the tournament with a record of 33-14.
• Zach Neto leads Campbell with a league-leading .418 average which includes 15 doubles and 10 home runs. Spencer Packard enters the tournament with a .379 average as Packard has 17 doubles and nine home runs.
• Connor Denning sits at .368 with a team-high 21 doubles and also has totaled 11 long balls. Matthew Christian checks in with a .361 average as he has racked up 10 doubles along with a team-high 15 homers and 58 runs driven in.
• On the mound, Logan Heintzman leads Campbell with a 6-0 record as he has a 2.19 ERA in 15 appearances. Heinztman has thrown 37 innings and recorded 24 strikeouts.
• Thomas Harrington leads the Camels amongst starters this season. Harrington is 5-2 with a 2.94 ERA in 13 starts as he has tossed 64.1 innings and totaled 67 strikeouts this year.
• Campbell enters the tournament tops in the league in batting average (.309), doubles (110), hit by pitch (115), home runs (63), on base percentage (.425), runs (417), sacrifice flies (35), scoring (8.9), slugging percentage (.517), stolen bases (90), triples (16).

Scouting USC Upstate
• USC Upstate enters the conference tournament on Thursday as the No. 2 seed with a 37-14 record and finished the conference season with a 28-12 mark.
• Jason Matthews and Julian Rip lead the Spartans both hitting .350. Matthews paces the team with 19 doubles, while Rip has seven doubles, two triples and four home runs.
• Devin Buckner leads Upstate with 17 doubles.
• On the mound, USC Upstate is led by Jordan Marks with a 10-1 mark to go along with a 2.01 ERA. Marks has 100 strikeouts in 94 innings. Kevin Davis has 11 saves in 21 appearances with 39 strikeouts and a 1.73 ERA.

Scouting Gardner-Webb
• Gardner-Webb enters the postseason with a 28-21 record and hold the No.3 seed in this week's tournament.
• Eric Jones paces the offense for Gardner-Webb hitting .354 with 11 doubles and six home runs. Mitch McLendon sits at .299 along with Patrick Ferguson. McLendon has 14 doubles while Ferguson checks in with 13 home runs.
• Keiji Parkhurst has a team-high 14 home runs.
• Mason Miller leads the GWU starters with a 7-1 record over 84.2 innings totaling 109 punchouts. Isaac Campbell has a team-high six saves. Kyle Skidmore is 5-1 out of the Gardner-Webb bullpen as well.

Recent Success
• In his last ten games, Kyle Decker is leading the Blue Hose at a .400 average with a double, home run and seven runs knocked in. Decker has a team-high .478 on-base pct. during that stretch as well.
• Zacchaeus Rasberry and Sean Klein each have connected on four home runs during the Blue Hose last ten games.
• Over his last nine appearances, Kyle Benson has a 3-1 record allowing just six earned runs in 17.1 innings.

Record Chasing
• Senior Eric Miles needs 18 strikeouts to move into first in the Blue Hose D1 record book. Miles currently sits with 231 career strikeouts.
• Miles needs 1.2 innings pitched to pass Tanner Chock for third in the DI record book for innings in his Blue Hose career
• Zacchaeus Rasberry's next triple will move him into a tie for fourth in D1 history with his sixth career triple as a Blue Hose.
• Junior Eric Toth with his next save will move into a tie for fourth in the Blue Hose DI record book for career saves. Toth has recorded six saves this season to lead PC.
• Toth needs one more save to move into a tie for third in the single-season DI record book. Hayden Deal sits in third with seven saves.

Blue Hose in the Minors
• Former Blue Hose standout Hayden Deal is currently 0-2 with a 5.54 ERA over three starts with the Mississippi Braves, the AA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. Deal earned the opening day start for the Braves and has totaled 11 strikeouts in 13 innings this season.
• As he begins his fourth year in pro baseball in 2021, Deal is 17-15 with a 3.02 ERA as over 241.2 innings pitched he has racked up 219 strikeouts. He also added four saves in his minor league career.

Up Next
• The Blue Hose following Thursday afternoon's game will await results from other games in the tournament to see whether they play at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. on Friday.Be sure to follow @PresbyterianBSB on twitter and check back at gobluehose.com for updates throughout the week in Fayetteville.

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Players Mentioned

#30 Kyle Benson: P; 6' 1"; Senior; R/R

#12 Kyle Decker: OF; 5' 11"; Junior; R/R

#17 Eric Miles: P; 6' 1"; Fifth Year; R/R

#4 Zacchaeus Rasberry: OF; 6' 2"; Fifth Year; R/R

#20 Jake Wyandt: C; 6' 0"; Senior; R/R

#31 Charlie McDaniel: P; 6' 3"; Freshman; L/L

#7 Eric Toth: P/UTL; 6' 4"; Junior; R/R

#18 Sean Klein: INF; 5' 10"; Junior; R/R

#21 Jay Wetherington: OF; 5' 9"; Freshman; L/L

Players Mentioned

#30 Kyle Benson
: 6' 1"; Senior; R/R
: P

#12 Kyle Decker
: 5' 11"; Junior; R/R
: OF

#17 Eric Miles
: 6' 1"; Fifth Year; R/R
: P

#4 Zacchaeus Rasberry
: 6' 2"; Fifth Year; R/R
: OF

#20 Jake Wyandt
: 6' 0"; Senior; R/R
: C

#31 Charlie McDaniel
: 6' 3"; Freshman; L/L
: P

#7 Eric Toth
: 6' 4"; Junior; R/R
: P/UTL

#18 Sean Klein
: 5' 10"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#21 Jay Wetherington
: 5' 9"; Freshman; L/L
: OF