MONTGOMERY, Ala. - After two days of postponements, the deciding game of the Faulkner-Auburn Montgomery series was finally played here Monday afternoon. And for the Eagles' Matt Creel, it was certainly worth the wait.
The senior righthander allowed only three hits and at one point retired 13 Warhawks in a row as Faulkner captured the Southern States Athletic Conference series with a 7-1 victory at chilly Harrison Field. Creel provided support at the plate as well, driving in a pair of runs with a second-inning single.
After giving up a pair of hits and a run in the top of the first, Creel completely handcuffed the Warhawks from there, allowing only one other hit in 7 2/3 innings of work. The Louisiana native struck out five and did not walk a batter, coming out with two outs in the AUM eighth after throwing 85 pitches.
"I felt really good tonight, and I figured out this weekend what this series means to our university," said Creel, a transfer from the University of Houston who will earn a psychology degree from Faulkner in May. "We needed to get our conference play off on the right foot with a series win, and we got that done today. Getting this win today was big for our team."
Thirteenth-ranked AUM won the series opener Friday night 3-2, with the eighth-ranked Eagles taking the nightcap of the doubleheader 8-1. Inclement weather postponed the decisive game of the series until Monday, and Creel saw to it that the Eagles' faithful would not be disappointed. Faulkner head coach Patrick McCarthy was not surprised at the senior's performance.
"He's a big-game pitcher, and just a great baseball player," McCarthy said. "We feel good about our chances when he's a big part of the game. Whether it's at the plate or on the mound, he's going to have a big impact on our team. We needed to win this series, and he saw to it that we did."
The Eagles (10-3 overall, 2-1 SSAC) answered the AUM run with one of their own in the first, and then took control with a three-run second. With the bases loaded, Craig Massey was hit by a pitch to give Faulkner a 2-1 lead. Creel followed with a bloop single down the right-field line to drive in two and push the lead to 4-1, and the Eagles coasted from there. A single in the fourth and two more in the fifth provided Faulkner with its final six-run margin.
Tucker Willard joined Creel with two hits for the Eagles, who finished with eight hits on the night. AUM (8-7 overall, 1-2 SSAC), which had three singles, didn't have a runner reach second base after the first inning.
Faulkner hosts Brewton-Parker this weekend in a cross-divisional Southern States Athletic Conference three-game series at Harrison Field. Friday's game begins at 3 p.m., with Saturday's doubleheader set for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
