CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team returns home for a three-game conference series against #14 Campbell on Thursday afternoon. The series is set to begin Thursday at 4 p.m. with a doubleheader before Friday's series finale at 6 p.m. from Clinton with all three games set to be shown on ESPN+.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: #14 Campbell (22-5, 9-0 Big South) vs Presbyterian (12-18, 5-4 Big South)
WHERE: PC Baseball Complex (Clinton, S.C.)
WHEN: 4 p.m. (Thurs. G1) | Approx. 7 p.m. (Thurs. G2) | 6 p.m. (Friday)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Campbell Leads 22-7
FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast (Thursday G1) | Stat Broadcast (Thursday G2) | Stat Broadcast (Friday)
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ (Thursday G1) | ESPN+ (Thursday G2) | ESPN+ (Friday)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
ON THE MOUND
Thursday Game One
CAM – RHP Cameron O'Brien (1-0, 1.80 ERA, 21 K)
PC – RHP Duncan Howard (2-1, 4.87 ERA, 29 K)
Thursday Game Two
CAM – TBA
PC – TBA
Friday
CAM – TBA
PC – TBA
About the Blue Hose
• The Blue Hose look to bounce back from a 5-4 midweek defeat at the hands of Davidson on Tuesday night as they welcome in #14 Campbell to Clinton on Thursday afternoon. Campbell enters off of a 15-6 defeat on Tuesday to Duke.
Scouting Campbell
• Campbell enters with a 22-5 record following the aformentioned midweek defeat to Duke on Tuesday. The Fighting Camels have won all nine league games and sit as high as 14th in the national polls entering Thursday's matchup. Lawson Harrill leads Campbell with a .420 average as he's tallied eight doubles, eight homers and 28 RBIs. Tyler Halstead checks in with a .402 average which includes six doubles, three triples and three homers along with a team-high 18 stolen bases. Drake Pierson and Bryce Arnold each have totaled a team-high 11 homers on the season. Campbell sits atop the league in batting average (.320), doubles (64), home runs (63), scoring (10.7), stolen bases (71) and triples (12). On the mound Cade Kuehler is 6-0 with a 3.15 ERA tallying 52 strikeouts in 40 innings. Chance Daquila is 7-0 with 31 strikeouts and a 4.31 ERA. Cameron O'Brien is 1-0 with 21 strikeouts compared to two walks. Daquila is tied for the national lead in wins with his seven on the season. Kuehler is #46 in the MLB Pipeline 2023 draft propsect rankings.
Head to Head vs Campbell
• Campbell holds a 22-7 edge in the all-time series against PC with the Blue Hose edging the Camels in four of the past six meetings including twice in the 2021 Big South Championship.
• In the 2022 series with the Camels, Brody Fahr paced the offense going 5-for-10 with a pair of doubles and a triple as Jack Gorman tallied three hits in the series.
Blue Hose vs Ranked Opponents
• PC looks for its first win over a ranked opponent since April of 2015 when the Blue Hose downed #27 South Carolina by the score of 7-4.
• In the program's DI history, the Blue Hose have seven wins over ranked opponents including three over UCF, one over Coastal Carolina, Clemson, Indiana and the aformentioned Gamecocks win.
Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Jack Gorman enters the contest on Tuesday tied for fourth in the league with nine doubles.
• Kyle Decker is tied for sixth in the league with 11 steals. Decker is tied for first in league games with six steals as the fifth-year senior has gone 6-for-7.
• Joel Dragoo sits seventh in the conference with 19 walks as Decker and Brody Fahr are tied for eighth with 18 free passes on the season.
• Fahr is tied for the top spot in the league with three triples on the season.
• Tanner Smith is atop the league in saves with five. Luke Gibson is fifth in the league with a pair of saves.
• Charlie McDaniel is fourth in the Big South with a 5.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio. McDaniel is second in the conference with 1.46 walks allowed per nine innings.
• Colbey Klepper is third in the league and eighth in the nation in appearances with 17 on the season.
Smith Goes Back-to-Back with Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week Honors
• Following two Big South saves in the Blue Hose series win over Charleston Southern, Presbyterian College baseball senior Tanner Smith (Laurens, S.C.) has been Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week for games played March 20-26, as announced by the league office on Monday.
• Smith opened the week with three strikeouts over 1.1 scoreless frames at home against Davidson. He opened the outing with a walk before recording three strikeouts over the next five batters to earn the scoreless outing.
• He carried his momentum into Friday's outing with a scoreless inning totaling two strikeouts and facing one over the minimum in the ninth of the Blue Hose 6-3 win over CSU to earn his fourth save. He needed just 16 pitches to get out of the inning against the Bucs.
• He bounced back on Saturday he needed just 12 pitches and worked around a leadoff hit by pitch to record his second save in as many games as PC clinched the series with a 2-1 victory. Smith tallied a strikeout in the inning of work on Saturday.
• Smith has not allowed an earned run over his last 8.1 innings as the senior has totaled 12 strikeouts and allowed three hits in that stretch. He continues to lead the Blue Hose bullpen with a minuscule 1.12 ERA over his 16 innings of work this season. He is currently tied for 15th in the nation with his five saves
• He becomes the first Blue Hose player to earn back-to-back Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week honors since last April 4 & 11 when Logan Ymker earned two straight honors.his third save of the season and give PC the 7-6 league opening win.
