MONTGOMERY, Ala. – After dropping its SSAC opener Friday night, Faulkner got a big performance from a familiar face to right the series Saturday. Following William Carey's 5-2 victory Friday night,
Antonio Frias called off the crusade in game one of the doubleheader Saturday with a complete game, no-hit shutout in a 9-0 victory that was the first of two Faulkner wins on the day.
FAULKNER 9, WILLIAM CAREY 0
A leadoff walk to Blake Freeman in the top of the fourth inning accounted for the first baserunner of the game against Frias. A sacrifice bunt followed by a walk to R.J. Stinson gave Carey its best scoring chance before Frias induced a groundball out of the Crusader three-hole hitter before fanning the cleanup man to nullify the threat.
The Faulkner offense rewarded the southpaw from Panama in the home half of the frame with a five-run rally to stake him to a sizable lead.
Justin Lara singled in
Alex Arauz to open the scoring.
John Michael Mathews followed with a double to plate
Isaac Phillips and Lara, moving the lead to 3-0.
Jonathan Villa then made it back-to-back doubles with a two-bagger that drove in Mathews to move it to 4-0.
Bo Seccombe later singled home
Mike Battle for the 5-0 lead.
Frias again pitched around a pair of walks in the fifth inning before
Justice Lucas stroked a two-run single to plate Brooks and
Sam Anthony in the bottom of the frame for the 7-0 lead.
After Frias set the Crusaders down in order in the sixth, Faulkner tacked on two more runs for good measure. Anthony singled home Willy Taveras before
Tyberius Correa drove in
Tyler Paulsen with a single to right.
Frias (4-0) lowered his season ERA to 3.58 with the outing and tied the series at one game apiece to set up the rubber match in the nightcap.
FAULKNER 6, WILLIAM CAREY 5 (10 innings)
Faulkner mounted a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth of game two before
Shawn Ross walked it off with a single in the 10th for the 6-5 win. With the Eagles trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Crusader pitching staff began struggling to find the strike zone. Consecutive walks to Lara, Mathews and Villa to open the innings set Faulkner up with the bases loaded and nobody out. A walk to Seccombe forced in Mathews to cut it to 5-3 before a walk to Ross drove in Lara to make it 5-4. Phillips later hit a sacrifice fly to right, driving in
Isaiah Brooks to tie the game and send it to the 10th.
The free passes became an issue for Crusader pitchers again in the bottom of the 10th as a one-out walk to Mathews put the winning run aboard for Faulkner. Consecutive walks to Villa and Seccombe loaded the bases with two away for Ross. The Eagle shortstop hit a fly ball to center field that the defender lost in the lights and allowed to drop, resulting in a walk-off single that scored Mathews to win the series for Faulkner.
Faulkner opened the scoring in the bottom of the second when a double by Lucas plated Anthony to make it 1-0. The Eagles doubled the lead in the third when Ross hit an 0-1 pitch over the left field fence to make it 2-0.
William Carey got a run in the fourth and two in the fifth to take the lead before adding one each in the seventh and ninth to set up the game-defining rallies for Faulkner.
J.C. Toro struck out five batters over six innings while scattering six hits and three walks for the Eagles.
Mike Battle (2-1) got the win in relief, striking out two over four innings of work.
Faulkner (12-2, 2-1 SSAC) is set to host Point University in a doubleheader Tuesday.
