HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Thirteen of the Eagles' 14 runs came with two outs in the 14-5 win to open the SSAC series at William Carey Friday night as the top-team in the SSAC turned three errors into 12 unearned runs.
Trailing 1-0 in the second with two outs, Sammy de la Cruz and
Juan Trinidad drew bases loaded walked consecutively before
Shawn Ross and
Alex Arauz turned in back-to-back two-RBI doubles to jump to a 6-1 lead. After several quiet innings, the Crusaders fought back with four runs in the fifth to cut it to a one run game.
Evan Gilliam's seventh inning home run added some cushion, but it was a six-run eighth that put the game out of reach with a clutch bullpen performance from
Nicholas Graham backing the offensive output. The leadoff spark plug de la Cruz tripled with two outs before scoring on Trinidad's batted ball that was thrown away. A Ross single and Arauz walk juiced the bases for
Justice Lucas who brought in two with a double. Gilliam singled to plate two more before
Jordan Funk traded places with him to make it 13-5 with a the team's fourth double of the night.
Graham was stellar in four innings of relief work, earning the save with five strikeouts of hitless pitching with just two walks after entering a one-run ballgame. The bullpen door opened in the fourth as
Ford Hilyer started the inning after three innings of work from
July Sosa. Hilyer got the win with 1.1 innings of work as
Hunter Dupuy struck out his only batter faced to strand the tying run at third.
Ross, de la Cruz, Lucas and Gilliam picked up multiple hits while Gilliam walked thrice and drove in three. Arauz also had three RBIs.
The Eagles hold a two-and-a-half game lead over Brewton-Parker for the conference lead. The Barons won two at home against Blue Mountain Friday. Faulkner goes for the series win in Saturday's doubleheader at 1 p.m. in Hattiesburg.
