NINETY SIX, S.C. – Steffen Smith carded his second round below par of the day and paced four Gardner-Webb golfers in the top-20 individually as the Runnin' Bulldogs finished stroke play in third place.

Gardner-Webb (293-289-291-873) finished just three strokes behind second-place USC Upstate, but will advance to the match play round at the Patriot Grand Harbor. Match play will either begin Friday or Saturday, with a start still to be determined due to impending wet weather in the area.

First-place Campbell continued its dominance in stroke play, finishing 32 shots ahead of the field.

USC Upstate (297-286-287-870) finished second, followed by Gardner-Webb and Winthrop (306-288-293-887) in fourth. Those four squads will continue their play with the league's new championship format.

Smith started the day with a sizzling round of 68, sinking eight birdies for the round. The former Greater Atlanta Christian star had three-straight birdies on the front nine (6-8) and had another stretch on the back nine with birdies on three out of four holes (10, 12-13). He closed out the round with another birdie on 18.

The momentum was helpful after a first-round of 75 on Wednesday afternoon. In Thursday's second round, Smith overcame an early bogey on the third hole, rebounding with an eagle on the Par 5 fifth (560 yards).

The junior heated up again at the turn, with birdies on the 10th, 12th and 14th holes. He finished with par putts on three of his final four holes to finish the round with a 71 – which was good for fifth individually.

Jake Scruggs, who sat second after Wednesday's opening round of 70, remained in the top-10 individually with a steady effort. He shot a 71 during Thursday's first round and finished his day with a 75 to finish tied for seventh at even par over 54 holes.

Scruggs had a hot start on Wednesday with three birdies over his first nine holes, and had the same start on Thursday. After playing par golf over four holes, Scruggs sank birdie putts on five, six and eight to shoot a strong 34 heading into the turn. He overcame a pair of bogeys on the back nine to finish with 1-under for the round.

A difficult start in the final round saw four bogeys, but birdies on the sixth and 14th holes kept Scruggs in the top-10 by the end of the day.

Andy Yang (73-73-74-220) finished in a tie for 13th individually, with nine birdies and one eagle to his credit over 54 holes. After two birdies and two bogeys – plus a double bogey – on the front nine in Thursday's final round, Yang played even par over the back nine to steady things.

Gardner-Webb's hottest golfer on Thursday afternoon was sophomore Patrick Wu (75-77-70-222), who overcame a tough morning round to shoot 2-under par over his final 18 holes. Wu started quickly with birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth – then overcame two bogeys with consecutive birdies to start the back nine.

Wu's finish pushed him into 16th individually by the end of the day.

Zack Byers (75-77-78-230) also battled Thursday and finished in a tie for 29th individually.

Campbell, USC Upstate and Gardner-Webb were the only teams to place two or more players inside the top-10.

League and course officials were meeting at the end of Thursday's action to determine a starting day and time for match play.