MONTGOMERY, Ala. - It's only had a pair of opportunities, but the Faulkner baseball team sure knows how to respond to a loss. Patrick McCarthy's fifth-ranked Eagles did it after their first setback of the season last month at Mobile, winning the rubber game of the crucial Southern States Athletic Conference three-game series.

And Faulkner did it again Sunday, in emphatic fashion. After dropping a 4-0 decision to Lindsey Wilson Saturday evening, the Eagles got a complete-game shutout from Jack Charleston and pounded out 12 hits in an 8-0 blowout of the Blue Raiders Sunday afternoon.

With the victory, Faulkner moves to 18-2 on the season and is a win shy of the best start in McCarthy's six years at the helm. The Eagles began the 2013 season 19-2 before losing a one-run game to Point. The next opportunity comes Tuesday afternoon at Talladega, with the Eagles facing the Tornadoes in a doubleheader set to begin at 1.

In moving to 2-0, Charleston scattered seven hits and struck out six without issuing a walk. The Blue Raiders managed two baserunners in an inning only once, collecting a pair of two-out singles in the sixth before Charleston slammed the door on thoughts of a rally.

Lindsey Wilson, which blasted Judson (Ill.) earlier Sunday, fell to 8-6 with the loss. Faulkner won four of the five games it played over the weekend, and got great pitching in each outing - a fact that certainly pleased McCarthy.

"Our pitching depth is getting stronger and stronger," he said. "Each of our five starters this weekend could have pitched complete games. Christian Torres was the only one who lost, and he allowed just three hits in that game. It was a long weekend, but I think we learned a lot about ourselves and showed the ability to bounce back again. That will be key as we get deeper into the conference schedule."

Faulkner's Chris Madera opened the game with a single, stole a pair of bases and scored the first run on a wild pitch by Chris Erker, who took the loss for Lindsey Wilson. The Eagles scored again in the inning on a Blue Raider error for an early 2-0 lead.

Madera made it 3-0 in the second with a long home run over the center-field wall, and the Eagles left no doubt with a four-run fourth. Randy Joung and Dario Polanco singled, and both moved up a base on an infield groundout. Madera followed with a two-run single to make it 5-0. After Alexis Torres reached on an error, Robert Llera doubled in two more and Faulkner was racing away with a 7-0 advantage.

Dennis Morton added a salt-in-the-wound insurance run in the fifth with a solo homer. McCarthy then took his foot off the pedal, making six substitutions in the final few innings.

Madera finished with three hits, three runs scored and three RBIs for Faulkner, which also got a pair of hits apiece from Morton and Edgar Figueroa. Torres also scored twice for the Eagles.

Alex Bautista's two hits paced the Blue Raider attack.