Heavy Hitters: No. 17 East Carolina to host Campbell on Tuesday

First pitch against the Camels is scheduled for 6pm at Clark-LeClair Stadium

When these teams met in Buies Creek three weeks ago, the potent offenses got the best of the mid-week pitching. That thriller—which was taken 10-9 by East Carolina—featured a combined 19 runs and 29 hits.

The 17 th-ranked Pirates (26-9, 9-3), who went 1-4 last week while suffering three narrow losses to teams—North Carolina and Rice—ranked in the nation’s top three, hope they can put away their in-state rival earlier in the contest this time around.

While East Carolina had scored in six of the first eight innings in the first meeting, Campbell benefitted from a six-run third and held a 9-8 lead through 8 innings. In fact, the Camels still held the lead with two outs in the ninth and a runner on first base. However, it was then that the Pirates—who have done an unusually large amount of their scoring with two outs this season—put together back-to-back-to-back singles to take a one-run lead it would not relinquish.

The last of those singles was by Kyle Roller, who finished the game 4-of-6 with a home run. Devin Harris also produced a four-hit game for the Pirates, who had three other players—Trent Whitehead, Stephen Batts and Dustin Harrington—collect two hits apiece to yield a total of five players with multi-hit games in the first match-up.

The potent Pirate line-up, which is hitting .353 with 52 home runs and 94 doubles, has no regular batting below .326, but still benefited tremendously from the return of senior first baseman Brandon Henderson. Henderson, who dons Keith LeClair’s No. 23, leads the team with his .419 average. He came into the Rice series hitting .405, but his average climbed significantly after he went 6-of-12 with two three-hit performances against the Owls.

Senior Stephen Batts, who is fifth on the team with his .367 average, was able to return to manning his usual spot in left field. Batts also collected six hits against the Owls, which included his ninth home run.

Batts’ nine homers tie him for the team lead with right fielder Devin Harris. Harris, who is third on the team with his .372 mark, clubbed three round-trippers against the Owls and drove in five runs.

Campbell (16-15, 4-10), which is hitting .352 as a team with 27 home runs and 89 doubles, has gone 5-5 since its first meeting with East Carolina. However, since getting swept at North Florida, they’ve won five of seven and have continued to exhibit their offensive firepower. Over the weekend, they plated 45 runs (allowed 28) while taking the series against Atlantic-Sun foe Belmont. CU has now totaled 110 runs in their last eight games and it’s been held to no less than six—which was the only time its been held to less than nine during that span.

Designated hitter/right fielder Zach Johnson, who is hitting .437 with nine home runs and 20 doubles, is the team’s top hitter. Fellow outfielder and pitcher Ryan Hamme, who is second on the team with 16 doubles, is batting .427.

The Camels not only hit it well, but they possess a strong running game. They’ve swiped 77 bases on the season.

Neither team has announced its pitching plans for the contest.

For East Carolina, it probably won’t start Sthil Sowers. Sowers, who has seen spot bullpen duty since his start at Campbell three weeks ago, allowed seven runs—five earned—in 4.2 innings of work. He surrendered seven hits, but was hurt more by the three walks and two hit batters that helped fuel the six run third inning.

Pirate head coach Billy Godwin will likely use Mike Wright or Patrick Somers. The duo started last week’s mid-week contests. Wright (0-1, 6.75) struggled and took the loss against UNCW while Somers pitched well—allowing only six hits in more than six innings, but received no run support in his first career start against No. 2 North Carolina.

Mike Anderson (0-0, 4.38), who has made six starts and limited opponents to a .250 mark at the plate, could also be an option. He has seen limited innings the last couple weeks, but delivered a scoreless inning of relief last Wednesday against UNCW.

Campbell threw a combination of five pitchers against East Carolina in the first meeting. No Camel pitcher went more than 2.1 innings and CU used some of its best in its attempt to knock off the highly ranked Pirates.

The Camels’ pitching staff has an ERA of 7.87 and no pitcher with at least ten innings of work has an ERA lower than 5.40.

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Final Prediction and Analysis

Campbell proved in the first match-up that it has enough offensive firepower to present East Carolina with a challenge if the Pirates’ don’t bring their A-game. The first contest featured the Pirates committing three errors and issuing nine free passes to Camel hitters, but the Diamond Bucs escaped Buies Creek when they pieced together a two-out rally with their backs against the wall in the ninth.

Don’t expect this one to be that close. Campbell may plate a few runs against ECU’s mid-week pitching, but the Pirates’ potent line-up will be too much for the Camels to pull the upset.

East Carolina 14 Campbell 5