MONTGOMERY, Ala. - February 19, 2022: For the first time in the McCarthy era, Faulkner was below .500 after the first weekend, had lost six straight games and held a 2-7 record after being swept at home for the first time with the legendary skipper. May 18, 2022: Faulkner (37-15) earns its ninth straight trip to Lewiston, completing the opening round sweep with an 11-8 victory over a resilient Reinhardt (37-23) under the same lights at Harrison Field that many people wrote them off under three months prior.
Faulkner capitalized on five first inning walks around a
Justice Lucas single to jump to a 4-0 lead that it would never yield, despite chipping by the opposing Eagles, bringing it to a 4-3 game in the second.
Kevin Saenz drove in his ninth RBI of the Opening Round in the third on a sac squeeze bunt to open the lead to two.
The Eagles opened the scoreline more with a three-run fourth before Reinhardt turned to the solo long ball twice and an RBI double once to bring it back to an 8-6 game in the seventh. With the tying run aboard in the seventh and two outs, out stepped
Brayan Garcia from the bullpen. The team's saves leader, who started the season as a starter, froze Lance Dockery to work out of the jam.
Alex Arauz delivered his third and fourth RBIs of the evening as a thank you to the closer, scoring Sammy de la Cruz and
Juan Trinidad. Reinhardt got one back in the eighth off of Garcia, but de la Cruz, Ross and Lucas combined for the 4-6-3 double play to end the eighth.
Singles by Saenz and
Jordan Funk were cashed in for an insurance run by
Jack Brinkley. After striking out the first two of the inning, two hit by pitches and a Dockery RBI single brought the tying run to the plate. Garcia coaxed a pop-up by leadoff batter Patrick Baggett that was squeezed in the glove of the SSAC Player of the Year
Shawn Ross, sending the Eagles to their second residency.
"The adversity [after the 2-7 start], I think brought out the fight that our guys have," McCarthy said. "Playing in close games all season made being in another close game tonight just another game for us.'
The ensuing celebrations felt different. For years it's been expected that Faulkner would be in this spot. But back in February, very few, except the boys in blue, believed that they were still very much in the thick of things. McCarthy, after being doused with a bucket of water upon reception of the trophy, bellowed "2-7!" and was returned with a thunderous roar from the Eagles squad that will be sending just nine of the 25-man roster back to the signature event in NAIA baseball in a couple weeks. Assistant Coach
Mike Correa, who played on the national championship team in 2013, withdraw himself from some of the celebrations and sat in the dugout on a cooler soaking in the moment, reflecting on how this group of 16 new players picked up the torch ignited by the 10 previous World Series sides is carrying it back to the place that often has felt like a birthright, but this year feels like a well-earned prize. Saenz, a senior who has seen the ups-and-downs of college baseball in his career, reflecting on the journey that will take the Eagles to the Pacific Northwest, simply stated "we may not have it all together, but together, we have it all."
Despite the pedigree that precluded them, this iteration of the Eagles did something that no prior team had accomplished. Faulkner won every SSAC series. The team that fell out of the top 25 for the first time in over 90 polls found a way to get back to the biggest stage in small college ball, running the table against three teams in the national poll.
The season at Harrison Field ends the same way it has the last nine completed seasons: Faulkner awaiting its seeding at the World Series. And this team isn't satisfied yet.
