Box Score BUIES CREEK, N.C. – The West Virginia University baseball team fell to Campbell, 8-6, on Friday night at Jim Perry Stadium.
 
The Mountaineers held an early, four-run lead in the opening game of the road, weekend series, but the Camels took control in the middle innings and hung on late to earn the victory.
 
WVU (9-7) scored a run in the first, three in the third and one each in the eighth and ninth, finishing with eight hits on the night. Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Noah Short took the loss, his first of the year, while Campbell's Thomas Harrington was awarded the win.
 
Freshman infielder Grant Hussey gave the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with an RBI double down the right-field line. It gave some immediate support for freshman right-hander Michael Kilker, who made his first career start on the mound on Friday night.
 
The Mountaineers added three more in the top of the third, despite not hitting a ball out of the infield. After redshirt sophomore infielder Tevin Tucker led off the frame with a hit by pitch, he scored on an RBI groundout by freshman infielder JJ Wetherholt.
 
Then, junior outfielder Victor Scott II's bunt single scored another run, before WVU capitalized on a Campbell throwing error to make it a 4-0 game. Of note, WVU stole three bases in the three-run inning.
 
The Camels (8-9) answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third to cut their deficit in half. Kilker pitched two batters into the inning and earned a final line of two runs allowed on one hit with two strikeouts and three walks in 2.0 innings.
 
Campbell struck for five runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. The hosts tacked on one more in the seventh with a solo homer to make it 8-4.
 
In the eighth, Scott II reached again on a bunt single, got to third on a two-base error and later scored with sophomore catcher McGwire Holbrook's RBI groundout. That led to an eventful ninth, where West Virginia plated another run on a CU error and got the tying run to second base with no outs.
 
However, a pair of strikeouts and a groundout ended the ballgame.
 
Sophomore outfielder Braden Barry, Hussey and Scott II all finished with two hits on the night. Scott II also scored two runs.
 
On the mound, West Virginia used six pitchers out of the bullpen on Friday: Short, senior left-hander Beau Lowery, fifth-year senior right-hander Trey Braithwaite, senior right-hander Zach Ottinger, sophomore right-hander Ben Abernathy and freshman right-hander Aidan Major.
 
Friday's game marked WVU's first-ever meeting against Campbell.
 
Up next, the two teams meet on Saturday afternoon in the middle game of the series. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. ET.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.