LAKE POINT, Ga. – While the pitching largely delivered, the bats cooled for Faulkner Saturday as it finished the Southeast Rumble 0-3 with a 5-2 loss to Columbia International. 
 

The pivotal sequence in the game came when Kody Trujillo hit a three-run double to center with two away in the top of the 11th to put the Rams in front. CIU got its first two runs of the game in the sixth and seventh innings. Ward Hacklen singled home Shane Hammonds in the sixth to tie the game. Robert Bell scored on a Rafael Gonzales grounder in the seventh to put the Rams in front. 
 

Faulkner rallied to tie the game in the ninth when Shawn Ross tripled before scoring on a single by Kam Wells. The Eagles got their first run of the game in the fifth when Peyton Davis scored on a double play ball that came in a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation. The Eagles had an opportunity to tie the game in the home half of the 11th as Wells reached on an error and Davis drew a walk. However, CIU hurler Peyton Evans stranded the runners by striking out the final batter of the game.
 

Alexis Saldana got his first start of the season for the Eagles, striking out seven batters over five innings while scattering two hits and one walk on just 56 pitches. Ford Hilyer did the bulk of the relief work, striking out three batters over three and a third scoreless innings of work. One the season, Hilyer has worked eight and a third scoreless frames. 
 

Faulkner (2-4) returns to action Friday when it hosts Webber International for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.