MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Things may have started off poorly for third-ranked Faulkner here Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament against cross-town rival and No. 7 Auburn Montgomery. They sure didn't end that way, however, as the Eagles survived the shaky start and raced past the Warhawks 11-4 for the title in front of an appreciative crowd at historic Paterson Field.

The tournament championship trophy will go right next to the one won for the regular season title, as head coach Patrick McCarthy's Eagles captured both outright for the first time in the program's storied history. During Faulkner's NAIA national championship season of 2013, the Eagles won the regular season championship and were declared the co-tournament champions along with Lee after inclement weather kept the final game from being played.

The Warhawks jumped on Faulkner starter Phillip Anderson early, grabbing the advantage in the bottom of the first inning. The righthander allowed four hits to the first five batters he faced, with Kaleb Harris's double into the gap in right-center field scoring the game's first run. Brandon Davis followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0. With the bases loaded and two outs, Anderson avoided further damage by coaxing a ground ball to second from Deric Boone that ended the inning.

After he retired the first five Faulkner hitters, AUM starter Kade Suther was on the wrong end of an Eagle offensive barrage. Dario Polanco singled for Faulkner's first hit, which was followed by Dennis Morton's RBI double that sliced the Warhawk lead in half. Nick Cain's two-run blast gave the Eagles a 3-2 lead, and after Onix Martinez walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, Darrius Jennings singled him in and the Faulkner lead was 4-2.

"He had thrown me four straight sliders and I just didn't think he'd throw me a fifth, so I was sitting on a fastball and got it," said Cain, whose home run was his team-leading 16th of the season. "I think our second inning kind of calmed us down, and really got us going offensively."

The Faulkner lead was short-lived. Anderson retired the first two AUM batters in the second, but didn't retire another one. John-Mark Cosby singled and scored on Dalton Kelley's RBI double. Harris then bashed his second double in as many innings, scoring Kelley to tie the game at 4.

In the first two innings, the teams combined for 10 two-out hits, with all eight runs coming after two were out. The whacky start was calmed considerably, at least from the Eagles' perspective, by left-handed reliever Marco Blanchard, who allowed just one Warhawk hit over the next 5 1/3 innings while striking out six to improve his record to 4-0. He was also the winning pitcher in Faulkner's regular-season championship clincher last week at AUM.

"I just wanted to once again throw strikes and do all I could to help this baseball team," Blanchard said. "I give all the honor and glory to God for this win today. I'm so excited I can barely talk."

Faulkner regained the lead, this time for good, with an unearned run in the top of the third. Mario Amaral reached on an infield single and moved to second on Cosby's throwing error. Courtesy runner Brandon Suttles then scored on Polanco's base hit to center on a bang-bang play at the plate. David Palenzuela's sacrifice fly in the fourth increased the Eagles' lead to 6-4.

It continued to grow from there, with Morton and Alexis Cruz both singling in runs in the fifth, and Amaral and Morton duplicating the feat in the sixth as the margin ballooned to 10-4. It stayed that way until the ninth, when Palenzuela's sinking liner to left drove in Martinez with Faulkner's 11th run of the day.

Faulkner ended the day with 16 hits to AUM's nine, only one coming after the second inning. Ivan Pelaez tossed a hitless two innings to close it out for the Eagles, who improved to 46-12 on the season. The Warhawks dropped to 42-15, with Seth Arroyo (4-3) taking the loss in relief. AUM used seven pitchers in the game, matching a season-high.

Polanco, Morton and Jennings all had three hits for Faulkner, with Morton driving in three runs and Cain and Palenzuela two apiece. Amaral and Martinez added a pair of hits each to the potent Faulkner attack.

"It was such a great day for us," said Morton, who remembered watching AUM celebrate the tournament title last year after a victory over Faulkner in the finale. "A lot of us remembered coming up short last year, and we wanted to do all we could to make sure it didn't happen again. I think our team showed a lot of maturity out here today, not allowing the start of the game to impact us the rest of the way."

McCarthy admits that he's sensed something special in his dugout ever since the start of fall practice. He does realize, however, the race is far from over.

"This is undoubtedly one of the closest teams I've ever coached," McCarthy said. "What I love about these guys is they hold each other accountable on the field, and basically make sure every player has a selfless approach to every game. When a team takes on the demeanor of its leadership, that's when you know you have something special. Two of our goals have been met. There are more out there, so we'll see just how much we can accomplish over the next few weeks."

Faulkner's T.J. Condon, who had nine hits in the tournament, was named the Most Valuable Player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Blanchard and Morton. AUM's Mac Seibert and Kaleb Harris were also named to the team.

Both Faulkner and AUM now await Friday afternoon's announcement of the pairings in the NAIA Baseball National Championships Opening Rounds. The Eagles and Warhawks are both hosting a site, with the winners of the nine five-team brackets earning a trip to the Avista-NAIA World Series later this month in Lewiston, Idaho.