JACKSON, Miss. - Jack Charleston kept his record perfect, allowing only five hits and striking out seven as top-ranked Faulkner knocked off Belhaven 7-1 here Friday night in the first game of a Southern States Athletic Conference series at Smith-Wills Stadium.

The tall right hander, now 6-0 on the season, took a three-hitter into the ninth before giving up back-to-back one-out doubles to lose his shutout bid. Tyler Campbell then entered in relief and finished off the Blazers as the Eagles improved to 36-8 overall and 18-4 in the SSAC. Faulkner still finds itself three games behind Auburn Montgomery in the league standings, with the 14th-ranked Warhawks winning 6-5 at No. 22 Mobile.

The loss dropped Belhaven to 28-18 overall and 10-14 in the conference.

Faulkner jumped on top in the third on Randy Joung's two-run single, and Nick Cain's solo home run in the fourth increased the lead to 3-0. The Eagles put it away with a four-run ninth, highlighted by Cody Sos's double which drove in a pair of runs. Edgar Figueroa and Joung also drove in runs in the inning, which included four hits.

Joining Joung with two hits for Faulkner was Chris Madera, who also scored a pair of runs, and Dario Polanco. Ben Allison (6-3) took the loss for Belhaven, surrendering eight hits and all seven Eagle runs.

Faulkner and Belhaven conclude the series with Saturday's doubleheader, which is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch.