MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 2 seeded host Faulkner Eagles survived a pitching duel to best No. 3 seed St. Thomas 4-3 on Day One in the Montgomery Bracket of the NAIA Opening Round at Harrison Field. Isaac Phillips beat a throw to home for the winning score in the sixth, and the pitching combo of Mike Battle and Antonio Frias kept the Bobcats off the board to make the lead stand. The depth of the teams' bullpens was on full display, as each team deployed three hurlers, and the two squads combined for 23 strikeouts, 13 of them by Faulkner. July Sosa got the start in the circle for Faulkner, registering eight strikeouts while surrendering just five hits, three runs and the only two walks allowed by the Eagles before being pulled in the sixth frame. The win overshadowed an outstanding outing at the mound for the visiting Sun Conference runners-up. Jose Ledesma, in his first start, led his team by throwing six strikeouts while allowing just five hits, two runs and two walks in 96 pitches and five innings of work. 

In a sequence that would set the tone for the day, Sosa used three pitches to record the first out of the contest on Emanuel Montesino. He tallied another strikeout for the third out of the first inning, and Ledesma struck out Shawn Ross to end the first. Erik Estevez opened the scoring with a homer to right field, before Sosa struck out Andrew Fernandez and Andrew Schoeller and Ross, at shortstop, caught a fly to left-center to send it to the home half of the second. Alex Arauz kicked it off by sending a hit perfectly down the right field line for a leadoff triple, and got the Eagles on the board via a Phillips RBI single. However, Ledesma then put away Tommy Reyes-Cruz, Bo Seccombe and Justin Lara on consecutive at-bats to close the second frame. Catcher Daniel Mondejar made the play of this stretch by throwing to second to catch Sam Anthony stealing.

The Eagles' reliable second-baseman, John Michael Mathews, made an acrobatic play to give Gus Guerra a groundout to first to close the top of the fifth. Lara promptly gave his team the lead with a home run off the top of the scoreboard. However, in the visitor half of the sixth inning, Alejandro Rivero advanced to third on Mondejar's double to deep left-center and tied the game back on Sosa's wild pitch. Following a dropped third strike and subsequent put-out at first by catcher Jonathan Villa, Coach Patrick McCarthy replaced Sosa with Mike Battle, who took the field for the first time since April 23, when he pitched in a walk-off loss to Blue Mountain. He immediately struck out Fernandez, but Schoeller's single scored Joel Franco to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead. However, with Joel Rivero subbing in for Ledesma, Arauz responded in the bottom of the frame with his second triple before tying the score off another Phillips RBI. Meanwhile, the latter got to second after a wild throw by shortstop Adiel Quintana, and then third on Mathews' sacrifice bunt. As Reyes-Cruz got to first on the fielder's choice, Phillips narrowly slid home for the go-ahead run. 

Despite a strikeout and groundout to first by Battle in the seventh, he was taken out after the inning. Following another changeup at pitcher for St. Thomas after consecutive walks, the Eagles could not get a run with the bases loaded in the period. Frias took the mound to begin the eighth for his first career relief appearance. He shook off a wild pitch to strike out Estevez, and Mathews made another remarkable play to first to get Orlando Borroto out and put his team back on offense midway through the eighth. Frias then retired Brett Mantrana and Quintana for the final two outs and the Eagles' 12th and 13th strikeouts of the contest.

Faulkner advances to play No. 1 seed Vanguard (Calif.) tomorrow in another midday game, as the Lions defeated Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) in the nightcap today. St. Thomas heads to the elimination round, now needing a win to stay alive, and will play in the first game tomorrow against Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), who lost to Freed-Hardeman in the opening game. If the Bobcats win, they will also play tomorrow night against the latter.