HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Trailing William Carey on the road 8-1 in the fourth in the rubber match of the series, Faulkner stared down the barrel of a series loss for the first time since Feb. 18-19. However, the Eagles barrelled three homers to take a weekend winning 14-9 result after dropping the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 9-8 in extras.
WILLIAM CAREY 9, FAULKNER 8 (8 Inn.)
Faulkner scored three in the extra eighth inning of the scheduled seven inning contest, but it was not enough as the receiving votes Crusaders replied with four to walk off the second game of the series and start Saturday with a thrilling contest.
Walks drawn by
Evan Gilliam and
Kevin Saenz sandwiched an error on
Jordan Funk's grounder to load the bases in extra innings.
Jack Brinkley's single through the right side scored two while Sammy de la Cruz's sac bunt brought the third run of the frame home. However, the Crusaders turned four singles and three free passes into the four runs needed capped by Magruder O'Bannon's walk off single to snap a nine game win streak for the Eagles.
Shawn Ross sent the game into extras with a clutch two out, two-RBI single in the seventh to capitalize on a William Carey error and walk. The runs were needed after a tumultuous second inning that saw five Crusaders touch home and no runs being scored by either side after the third inning before then.
Faulkner struck first the first time at bat with a
Juan Trinidad single to score de la Cruz who drew a leadoff walk, Ross drew a walk and was brought in by
Alex Arauz's single after getting to third on a throwing error. Five of the first six batters for William Carey found a way on base in the second to take a 5-2 lead capped by a two-out double from O'Bannon.
Justice Lucas scratched one back in the third to score
Ben Hargis, the courtesy runner for the walked catcher.
FAULKNER 14, WILLIAM CAREY 9
The Eagles trailed by seven with nine outs to go, but never flinched as they rallied to take the lead in the sixth before adding insurance in the seventh.
The pattern for the comeback, which seems like a broken record this weekend, started off a walk drawn by Jack Brinkely, an error in the field by the hosts and yet another walk to load the bases in the fifth. Ross's single to left played station to station to score the first run for the Eagles since the second inning. A wild pitch brought in de la Cruz and advanced the runners for a sacrifice fly from
Justice Lucas. Gilliam's double brought in Ross before
Jordan Funk cleared the bases with a two-run launch over the left field wall to bring the game within one. With a chance for the game to open back up,
Hunter Dupuy fanned two with two on to put the bats back in the visiting dugout. The righthander earned his fourth win of the season.
Lucas turned to the big fly for the first time since the opening series to give the Eagles a 10-8 lead with a three run shot to left center to score Trinidad and Ross. A bases loaded balk in the bottom half of the inning turned it to a one-run game again as the Crusaders suddenly found themselves trailing in a game they lead by seven at home.
Brinkley's leadoff single followed by a walk and hit by pitch brought the wrong dude up to the plate for the hosts.
Shawn Ross continued the tear he's on with a massive grand slam to left center for his ninth homer of the season.
Brayan Garcia closed the door to get his fifth save of the year, working around the first two batters reaching with back-to-back punchouts to seal the series.
Ross scored four runs and totaled seven RBIs on the day with six coming in the seventh innings of the two games. Lucas had four RBIs to his credit in the second Saturday game and five on the day.
The Eagles hold a three game lead over Brewton-Parker for the conference title with nine games to play, producing a magic number of seven. Faulkner welcomes Talladega for a conference home series starting Thursday at 3 p.m.
