Box Score Faulkner moved to No. 3 in the NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 poll, released Tuesday by the association. Georgia Gwinnett remained No. 1, followed by Bellevue (Neb.). Auburn Montgomery remained No. 8 in the poll, while fellow Southern States Athletic Conference foe Middle Georgia State moved up one spot to 13th. William Carey (Miss.), also a member of the SSAC, is No. 21, while Mobile is in the receiving votes category.
The Eagles (38-11) saw their eight-game winning streak snapped later Tuesday afternoon in Athens, Tenn., when sixth-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan rode a four-run sixth inning to a 9-3 victory, its 12th in a row. Faulkner beat Tennessee Wesleyan in a pair of games played in Montgomery last month. Tuesday's game was Faulkner's 23rd against a nationally-ranked opponent, with the Eagles having gone 15-8 in the matchups.
After Tennessee Wesleyan grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, the Eagles jumped on top with a two-run second. Brandon Suttles and Darrius Jennings each had sacrifice flies after Deivy Palmeiro's single and a walk to Onix Martinez.
The Bulldogs tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Marlor Villafana's two-out RBI single, and then broke it open in the sixth. Cody Stroud's two-run homer highlighted a four-run uprising, which also included an Alfred Cruz RBI double.
The Eagles trimmed the deficit to 6-3 in the seventh. Dennis Morton singled to open the inning, followed by Palmeiro's double. Morton then scored on a passed ball. The Bulldogs closed out the scoring with three unearned runs in the eighth.
Kurt Lipscomb (1-2) took the loss in relief of starter Marco Blanchard, while Tennessee Wesleyan's Chevis Hoover earned the victory to improve to 5-1. Morton and Palmeiro each had two hits for the Eagles, who could muster just five hits on the day.
Faulkner, which leads the SSAC standings by two games over AUM, hosts Mobile this weekend. The three-game series begins Friday at 6 and concludes with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at 1. Saturday will be Senior Day, with Eagle seniors Darrius Jennings, Dennis Morton, Victor Arche, Kurt Lipscomb, Dario Polanco, Mark Vasquez, Mario Amaral, Nick Cain, Christian Torres, Phillip Anderson, Matt Martin and Austin Burgett honored.
