Simpson's Walk-Off Homer Lifts Campbell Over Elon, 10-9
Rob Washburn
Box Score
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. (May 21, 2025) – Senior outfielder Joe Simpson’s solo homer leading off the bottom of the ninth gave third-seeded Campbell a 10-9 walk-off win over No. 6 Elon in the second game of the CAA Baseball Championship on Wednesday afternoon at the Ballpark at Patriots Point.
Campbell (25-29) advances to play No. 2 UNCW at 7 p.m. on Thursday night, while Elon (24-31) will meet No. 5 William & Mary in an elimination game at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
In a back-and-forth affair, Simpson snapped a 9-9 tie by lofting his 10
th homer of the season over the fence in left on the second pitch of the inning to give the Camels a victory in their first-ever CAA Tournament game.
Simpson finished 3-for-4 with a triple, homer and two RBI’s, while second baseman Jonah Oster was 3-for-4 with a double, homer and two RBI’s to lead the Camels. Reliever Jett Music (2-2) picked up the win after throwing 1.1 scoreless innings.
For Elon, Charlie Granatell was 3-for-5 and drove in two and Alex Duffey was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI’s.
Elon sprinted out to an early 4-0 lead in the opening two frames. In the first, Duffey’s double into the gap in right-center brought in two. In the second, the Phoenix took advantage of two Camels’ errors and executed a pair of bunts to plate two more runs.
Campbell sliced the deficit to one in the bottom of the second. Oster got things started by lining a solo homer over the fence in center. The Camels added two more runs as Charlie Meglio walked and scored on a groundout and JSimpson’s infield single brought in Darnell Parker.
Elon went up 5-3 in the top of the third as Kenny Mallory, Jr. led off the inning with a ground rule double and came home on a Vince Fattore base hit. However, Campbell was able to draw even at 5-5 on Oster’s RBI double down the left field line in the bottom of third and a solo homer to right from Jackson Thompson in the fourth.
The Camels took their first lead of the afternoon in the fifth when Meglio lined a two-run double off the fence in the right center. Elon tied it back up at 7-7 on a two-out, two-run double by Granatell in the top of the sixth.
A two-run homer by Dalen Thompson in the bottom of the sixth put Campbell back in front, 9-7. However, Elon fought back to tie it once again, as Will Fergantino crossed the plate in the seventh after singling to open the frame, and Ryan Sprock made it at 9-9 in the eighth by scoring following a Camels’ error.