MT. VERNON, Ga. - Faulkner claimed the first Southern States Athletic series of the season with a dominant 23-6 win in the rubber game after falling 3-2 in a tough first game of the day marked with a unique ruling that allowed the winning run to score Saturday at Brewton-Parker.
BREWTON-PARKER 3, FAULKNER 2
A hot first inning for Faulkner whirled into controversy in the third inning amidst a pitching duel in the weekend's lowest scoring affair. After a convincing win the previous night,
Drew Mackie delivered a one-out double and was driven in by
Juan Trinidad before
Jack Brinkley's single set up a sacrifice fly opportunity for
Francisco Soriano to double the lead in the first inning. In the second, Brewton-Parker cashed in a two-out single to a run to half the Eagle advantage.
In the third with a runner on first, a batted ball by Brandon Lawrence found its way inside the left field windscreen. By the time that the play was called dead, Lawrence, having been on third with the tying run having already scored, was sent home for an inside the park home run to take the lead.
Faulkner could not rally from the moment, only getting three base runners on and two double plays turned despite great efforts from
Chance Denson out of the bullpen throwing three innings of shutout ball to keep his team in striking distance.
Jaxen Forrester took the hard luck loss allowing three runs over three innings.
FAULKNER 23, BREWTON-PARKER 6
The Eagles took out their frustrations from how the first game of the day went on the baseballs, hitting eight extra base hits including a grand slam to run past the Barons in the largest win margin in modern program history over the SSAC foe to claim the series.
Jose Vargas started a massive third game with a leadoff single in the second when a bases loaded walk drawn by
Evan Gilliam scored
Josh Smith, Vargas's courtesy runner. Doubles from Mackie and Brinkely added two runs a piece to blitz to a 5-0 lead. The Barons got one run back in the bottom half before finding three more in the third to cut the Faulkner lead to 5-4.
Soriano's double cashed in two of the 10 walks drawn in the game in the fourth to cushion the lead. However, the Barons charged back in the fifth to again cut the game to a one run difference.
Faulkner went berserk in the sixth, plating nine to blow the game wide open. The Eagles went station-to-station linking singles, walks, hit by pitches and an error together for the first eight batters to take a 12-6 lead. Trinidad doubled to add two more to make it 14-6 before the first out of the inning was recorded. Vargas and
Zakary Farris added one more each with their at bats to balloon the lead to 10.
The Eagles were not content there with the first five batters reaching in the seventh to add another run before Vargas launched the first grand slam of the season to make it a 21-6 lead.
Jorge Lucero followed with a double for one of his three hits of the contest. Farris joined the extra base hit parade with a two run homer to finalize the scoreline.
Alexis Saldana picked up the win striking out five over 4.1 before
Hunter Dupuy earned a 2.2 inning save in a 17 run game after entering in a one-run ball game and closing out the game without allowing a run.
Soriano and Vargas each picked up three hits in the game.
Soriano finished the series with seven hits and seven RBIs with a couple doubles. Trinidad had six hits and five RBIs while drawing three walks for an absurd .643 on base percentage. He also stole three bases.
The bullpen was electric over the weekend allowing just one run on seven hits over 7.2 innings.
Faulkner returns home to take on Fisher (Mass.) Wednesday at 3 p.m.
