FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Home dates with in-state rivals North Carolina State and UNC Wilmington, two home tournaments, a full Big South slate plus matchups with 13 opponents who made postseason appearances over the last two seasons highlight Campbell’s 2014 baseball schedule.
Coming off a Big South Regular Season Championship and a school record 49 wins last season, the Camels will play 33 home contests in 2014. Campbell is 60-12 over the last two years in Buies Creek, going 31-5 in 2013 at Jim Perry Stadium.
24 of the Camels’ 56 scheduled games will come against teams who made the College World Series field over the last two seasons, including nine of last year’s participants, including North Carolina and NC State, who punched tickets to Omaha.
Campbell will kick off 2014 on Feb. 14 at Jim Perry Stadium against LaSalle for the first of a three game series. CU will then head to East Carolina on Feb. 18 for its first road trip. The Camels defeated the Pirates 3-2 and 8-6 a year ago, marking the first time since 1985 that Campbell posted multiple wins over ECU in the same season.
CU will host the first of two home tournaments beginning on Feb. 21, welcoming Manhattan and Delaware to Buies Creek. Each team will play four games, two against each opponent, over the three-day span.
A week later, the Camels will host Army and Towson in the same tournament format.
The team’s second tournament will be sandwiched by a pair of neutral site games. Campbell will take on Missouri on Feb. 26 in Cary, N.C. at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. The game will be Campbell’s first against a SEC member since traveling to Florida in 2008.
The Camels will battle Appalachian State on March 5 in Winston-Salem, N.C. at BB&T Ballbark, home of the Winston-Salem Dash, Advanced Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Campbell returns to Jim Perry Stadium to take on William & Mary in a three-game series on March 7-9 before hosting Ball State in a two-game midweek set on March 11-12.
Big South play will open up on the road for the Camels at Liberty on March 14, the first of consecutive weekends in the state of Virginia. CU will head to Longwood on March 21.
Campbell makes its Big South home debut on March 28 against High Point, also hosting Presbyterian (April 4-5), UNC Asheville (April 11-12) and Gardner-Webb (May 2-4). Trips to Radford (April 17-19), VMI (May 9-11) and Coastal Carolina (May 15-17) round out the Camels’ Big South slate.
The Big South Championships will be held May 21-25 in Rock Hill, S.C., hosted by Winthrop.
NC State comes to Buies Creek on Tuesday, March 25, with Campbell making the return trip on April 22 to Raleigh. The Camels will also head to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina for the first time since defeating the Tar Heels, then ranked No. 2 in the country, 7-5 in 2007.
Longtime rival UNCW returns to the schedule in 2014 with a home and home series. The Seahawks will host the Camels on April 8, with the pair playing at Jim Perry Stadium on May 13 in Campbell’s home finale.
Campbell will also host Iona (March 18-19) and North Carolina A&T (April 30) this season. Midweek trips to Elon (April 2) and NC A&T (April 15) complete the Camels’ 2014 schedule.
The Camels finished 2013 with a school record 49 wins, claiming the Big South’s Regular Season Championship and ending the year runner-up in the league tournament. The team was ranked No. 28 by Collegiate Baseball in the publication’s final poll.
A school record nine Camels were named All-Big South, with Ryan Thompson as the conference’s Pitcher of the Year, and Greg Goff as the Coach of the Year.
Four Camels earned All-America honors and three were named to the American Baseball Coaches Association’s Atlantic All-Region team, both school records, and two were selected in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft.
The team broke into the national rankings for the first time, and was among the nation’s leaders in several categories. Ben McQuown led the nation in stolen bases and Ryan Thompson led the country in ERA.
Campbell returns 16 letterwinners from last season’s record-setting team, including All-Big South performers Ryan Thompson, Elijah Trail, Heath Bowers and Clayton Brown. The Camels also welcome 17 newcomers to the fold.
