SPARTANBURG, S.C. – No. 14 Campbell won its fifth consecutive Big South regular season championship with a 12-9 win over USC Upstate in 12 innings Saturday afternoon. Campbell is just the second program in conference history to win five straight regular season titles.
It was a winner-take-all game with the Camels and Spartans entering the day tied in the Big South standings. The win gives Campbell the top seed in next week’s Big South tournament at Truist Point in High Point, the site of last season’s tournament where Campbell took home the tournament championship.
The Camels wrapped up the regular season 41-13, 22-5, the just the third 40-win regular season in program history.
Campbell got off to a fast start and led 2-0 two batters in after an inside the park home run from Bryce Arnold to centerfield. Max Weller added another with an RBI double later in the frame to put Campbell up 3-0 in the first.
But Upstate answered with an even bigger inning of its own, batting around and scoring five in the first to go up 5-3. The Spartans used a couple of doubles, a pair of HBPs, and five total hits in the frame to score five.
Campbell pitching struggled with command early on, issuing nine free passes via walk or HBP through the first four innings. Upstate loaded the bases in both the third and fourth without a hit, scoring twice in the third inning to push the lead to 8-5.
The Camels got a run back on a sac fly in the sixth, but couldn’t draw any closer and left the bases loaded. The Camels drew even the next inning scoring two runs on back-to-back squeeze bunts from Grant Knipp and Chandler Riley.
Campbell took its first lead since the top of the first with a run in the seventh to go up 9-8 thanks to a sac fly from Logan Jordan. That lead didn’t last long, with Upstate turning a leadoff walk into a run in the home half to even the score at 9-9.
The Camels once again had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth, but Jarrod Belbin grounded into an inning-ending 5-3 double play to kill the threat and leave the game tied and ultimately force extra innings.
Cam O’Brien did his job late, throwing four scoreless innings from the eighth into the 12th, giving the offense time to break through. O’Brien earned the win on the mound for his efforts.
Jarrod Belbin led off the 12th with a solo home run on the first pitch of the inning to break the tie and put Campbell up 10-9. The Camels pieced together a big inning and scored two more on an RBI single from Weller to give the Camels a three-run lead.
Upstate threatened in a major way in the home half loading the bases with just one out, again on a pair of HBPs and a single. Ty Cummings inherited the jam and slammed the door with a called strike three and flyout to end it.
Belbin and Weller lead the way at the dish, each going 4-7. Arnold and Weller each drove in three while Belbin scored three times.
The Camels now await the Big South Tournament at Truist Point in High Point, N.C. The tournament will be broadcast on ESPN+, along with the championship game Saturday at noon on ESPNU.
