OMAHA, Neb.-- Former UND slugger Jeff Campbell hit a combined 34 home runs all three rounds of the College Home Run Derby Thursday evening at TD Ameritade Ballpark. Campbell hit 10 homers in the final to defeat Wake Forest's Will Craig for the title in the sixth year of the annual event.
"I can't even explain it right now. The feeling's just...awesome," Campbell said to ESPN following his win. "I've been trying to do this...it's been a dream the last couple years and to finally get in this and win it this year, it means a lot for myself, and a lot for my coaching staff and a lot for my teammates.
"It got our name on the map. Not many people know we play baseball up there. We played teams like Arkansas, we beat Washington this year. We had 12 graduating seniors, we have a lot of young guys that we mentored that are going to build this program even more."
Well, if they didn't know North Dakota produces some great baseball talent before, they know now. In the opening round, Campbell wasted little time put his stamp on this competition, driving a ball 490 feet with his first swing en route to a College Home Run Derby first-round record 20. His homers were of almost all varieties, hitting a few line shots down the line, several moon shots that landed on the concourse at TD Ameritrade Ballpark and maybe most impressively, a blast to right-center field that found the stands near the deepest part of the park.
When the smoke cleared on the long first round, Campbell found himself atop the leaderboard with his homer total. He would be the first batter of the second round, looking to add to his already impressive tally.
While round two produced just four homers for the Clearwater, Fla., product, his two-round total of 24 was good enough to advance him to the finals. In that second round, he again wowed the near capacity crowd with a pair of majestic homers. His second homer of the round was a towering fly that again found the concourse behind the two dozen rows of seats in left field. His next homer was a high fly ball to almost straight-away centerfield that cleared the wall just to the left of the 408' sign in the spaceous home of the NCAA College World Series.
In the finals, the totals were erased and Campbell matched up with Wake Forest's Will Craig, who used an impressive second-round showing to amass 25 homers. In the finals, Campbell ripped four homers with just one out and finished up with 10 round-trippers in the final round. He then had to sweat it out as Craig stepped in. Craig had just a pair of homers midway through but rallied near the end of his round. He would fall short, however, and North Dakota was smack dab in the middle of the national spotlight with the champion in tow.