MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner opened a four-game series with No. 15 Indiana Wesleyan Friday by splitting a doubleheader in a pair of one-run games.
FAULKNER 3, INDIANA WESLEYAN 2
The Eagles had to battle from behind in the first game of the series as IWU plated the first two runs of the contest. MJ Stavola hit a sacrifice fly to center in the second inning that plated Lucas Goodin for the 1-0 lead. Goodin then stroked a solo homer in the fourth to put the visiting team up 2-0.
Faulkner got off the deck in unconventional fashion in the fourth after
Justice Lucas singled and then moved to third on a
Juan Trinidad single and an error. The Eagles plated the first run of the contest when Lucas trotted home on a balk. Trinidad then stole third and scored on an
Evan Gilliam RBI single to tie the game.
July Sosa came through with the shutdown inning in the top of the fifth as he retired the side in order including a pair of strikeouts. The senior faced the minimum four out of seven innings in the contest including a sixth inning stint in which he induced three flyballs for a second consecutive shutdown inning. That performance was enough to make
Jack Brinkley's fifth inning run stand up as the game winner. Brinkley singled to center to open the fifth and reached third on an error. He finished the trip home on a Lucas sacrifice fly for the 3-2 lead in what proved to be the game-winning sequence.
Sosa retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced and allowed no hits after the fourth inning to notch his first win of the season. He struck out 11 batters over seven innings of work while allowing two earned runs, three hits and a walk in the outing.
INDIANA WESLEYAN 4, FAULKNER 3
Faulkner dropped the nightcap after Jeff Morton singled home Stavola in the top of the ninth to give IWU the 4-3 lead. Braedon Norman struck out the side in the ninth to finish off the win for Indiana Wesleyan. Zach Rabe singled in Stavola and Colby Jenkins in the fourth to knot the game at two each after the Eagles scored in each of the first two innings.
Shawn Ross drove in the initial run of the game when his grounder plated
Sammy De La Cruz.
Kevin Saenz made it 2-0 when he scored on a wild pitch. Lucas drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to put Faulkner up 3-2 before Darien Pugh's grounder in the fifth plated Morton to tie the game.
J.C. Toro started on the hill for the Eagles and worked seven innings in only 49 pitches. He scattered six hits and issued no walks while allowing two earned runs.
Faulkner (4-8) resumes the series Saturday at noon when it hosts another doubleheader.
