Faulkner entered the sixth inning with a narrow 3-2 lead before hanging nine runs to propel it to a 12-5 victory over eighth-ranked Middle Georgia State in the SSAC Series of the Week opener Friday night at Harrison Field.

Hagen Holmstead (JR/Salt Lake City, Utah) took the first pitch of the sixth inning off his back and Troy Black (SO/Dayton, Ohio) followed with a walk. Jacob Freeland (SR/Cape Coral, Fla.)'s ensuing single drove home Holmstead. Jonathan Villa (JR/Ensenada, Mexico) drove home two runs following Tyler Paulsen (JR/Jolliet, Ill.)'s walk. A sacrifice bunt from Te'kwann Whyte advanced Paulsen and DeJhard Kimbrough (JR/Atlanta, Ga.), who had replaced Villa as a courtesy runner. With one out and runners on second and third in the sixth, John Michael Mathews (JR/Birmingham, Ala.) rolled a ball to short and Jacob Durant threw home to his catcher Chris Burgess to try to get Paulsen at the plate. Initially, the home plate umpire ruled that Paulsen was out, but following a discussion with the umpire who was standing near second, Paulsen was ruled safe on obstruction due to Burgess blocking the plate completely. This sequence summoned lively discussion before a pitching change was made. 

Max Guzman (JR/Miami, Fla.)'s sacrifice fly drove home Kimbrough in Cam Bailey's first batter faced. Marcus Ragan (SR/Vicksburg, Miss.) followed with a double down the left field line to score Mathews. Holmstead reached first for the second time in the inning by drawing another walk before Black's two RBI double to deep right center. Freeland hit the third consecutive double to score Black for the ninth run of the frame. 

 Villa opened the scoring with a two run line drive home run over the right field fence in the third for Faulkner's first hit of the contest. 

The Knights answered in the fifth with a two RBI single from Robbie Hanlon to tie the game, but Paulsen's leadoff double set the stage for the eventual game winning run to be scored. Villa battled off several pitches with two strikes before grounding out to second base to advance Paulsen to third. Paulsen was balked in after a mishap in a pickoff attempt from Middle Georgia State starting pitcher Preston Sparks. 

Evan Gillespie (JR/Princeton, N.J.) was electric from the hill once again striking out nine Knights in six innings. He improves to 7-0 on the season and currently has a 0.96 ERA through 37.2 innings of work.

Faulkner (23-8) and Middle Georgia State (23-5) are tied atop the SSAC standings at 9-1 in league play. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m. at Harrison Field.