Charleston Southern won their 27th game of the 2026 season on Saturday afternoon by a 7-1 final score at Longwood. The victory clinched CSU’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 1987 and 1988 when they went 25-17 and 27-16.
The Buccaneers moved to 11-9 in conference play as well to move to solo third in the Big South standings. They also officially clinched their spot in the Big South Championships with the top six teams in the league standings qualifying for the tournament which will be held in Asheville, North Carolina from Wednesday, May 20 through Saturday, May 23.
Longwood scored the first run of the day in the bottom of the first with a runner on third scoring off a throwing error in the infield by the Bucs.
After this, it was all Charleston Southern as they went on to score the remaining seven runs of the game. Caden Wolfley tied the game at one piece in the third on an RBI groundout. In the sixth, Lucas Pringle had a two RBI single to center to give them their first lead of the day at 3-1.
In the seventh, Alex Marot had an RBI single through the right side to tack on another run. In the ninth, Ethan Reader drew a walk with the bases loaded to bring another in. After that, Blake Edgmon had a two RBI single to center when the bases were still full, pushing the final to 7-1.
Hunter Porter started for the Buccaneers on the mound and had his best, and longest outing of the spring. He tossed 4.1 allowing no earned runs to score while allowing just three hits and one walk. Jack Bunnell earned the win to move to 3-0 on the season, tossing a scoreless 2.2 giving up just one hit and one walk. Hayden Henry earned his third save of 2026 by throwing the final 2.0, retiring three batters by strikeout and allowing one hit during his time on the bump.
As a team, they finished with seven hits as Marot and Edgmon both had two hits to lead the squad. Pringle and Edgmon each had two RBIs to pace the Bucs in the category. Additionally, they drew eight walks and three hit by pitches with Nathan Martinex getting two walks and Tyler Wright getting hit by two.
The two teams will conclude the weekend series on Sunday afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m., with the game to be available live on ESPN+.
— Michael Causey is assistant athletic director for athletic communications at Charleston Southern.