UNC Asheville Baseball Travels to Campbell For Three-Game Series

BUIES CREEK, N.C. - The UNC Asheville baseball teams travels to Big South Conference newcomer Campbell this weekend for a three-game series that starts Friday at 5 p.m. and finishes up on Saturday with a double-header starting at 1 p.m. This weekend's series will be video-streamed and can be seen at www.uncabulldogs.com.

The Bulldogs (16-19, 5-7 BSC) face a tough task against a Campbell squad that is enjoying an outstanding season. The Camels have an overall record of 28-7 and boast a 6-3 worksheet in BSC play.

Asheville is coming off a split of its mid-week games. The Bulldogs rallied past ETSU at home on Tuesday, 7-3. On Wednesday, Asheville traveled to UNC Chapel Hill against the eighth-ranked Tar Heels and fell, 10-5. The Dogs trailed 6-1 before rallying to get to 6-5 in the eighth inning before UNC pulled away late in the contest.

"We're starting to hit the ball a little bit and that's a good sign," commented third-year coach Tom Smith. "The last three games we've done a great job of situational hitting and getting two-out hits to score runs.

"We're going to need to do that in a big way this weekend against Campbell," added Smith. "Campbell has a good team and has posted some really impressive wins this season. They can swing the bats pretty well and are just a fundamentally sound team."

The Bulldogs are tentatively slated to start senior right-hander Ryan Dull (1-4, 4.18 ERA), sophomore right-hander Dean Roland (4-3, 3.66 ERA) and junior left-hander Drew Spear (2-2, 4.23 ERA) this weekend. Asheville's pitching is much improved from last season. The Bulldogs ERA is 4.30 this year compared to last year's 6.38.

The men of Tom Smith are being led in hitting by a pair of freshmen. Aaron Wright tops the club with a .344 average, while Hunter Bryant is right behind at .343.

Campbell swept the Bulldogs in an early three-game series a year ago. The Camels lead the all-time series 24-14.

BULLDOG NOTES
Asheville has 16 wins, one more than all of last season and with two more wins the Bulldogs would surpass the 2010 total of 17. When Asheville gets to 20 wins that will mark the first time the Dogs have reached 20 victories since the 2008 campaign.

The Bulldogs are 6-12 on the road this season and 1-5 in BSC road games.

Hunter Bryant enters the Campbell series with a five-game hitting streak and has reached base in 10 consecutive contests.

Asheville is 8-0 when it hits a home run.

The Bulldogs are 3-5 in games they don't make any errors and 8-8 when they make two or more errors.

Tom Smith earned his first collegiate victory against Campbell in 2010 when the Bulldogs won the first game of the year against the Camels, 15-11. However, Campbell has won the last five meetings against the Bulldogs.

Junior catcher Ian Graham leads Asheville in hitting against BSC opponents with a .325 mark.

In seven BSC losses, the Bulldogs have scored a total of seven runs. In the five games they've won, Asheville has scored 36 runs.