MONTGOMERY, Ala. - "The only momentum you have in baseball is the next guy you have on the mound," Head Coach
Patrick McCarthy said after the game. The Eagles found just that Friday afternoon at Harrison Field with two stellar starts
Marco Ozuna and
Nicholas Graham to claim a pair of wins over Lindsey Wilson to open a four game set with the Blue Raiders 8-1 and 6-2.
FAULKNER 8, LINDSEY WILSON 1
"If you don't have good starting pitching, then it doesn't matter how hard you play defense or how good you are offensively," McCarthy said. The Eagles put together a complete performance around the starter Ozuna of the series who shut down the Blue Raiders with six strikeouts over five allowing just one earned run which was plenty sufficient to pick up the win amidst error-riddled defense from the visitors.
Faulkner jumped ahead on the All-Mid South Conference starting pitcher Cohen Achen as
Christian Webb drew a leadoff walk then scampered to third on a failed pickoff attempt to first that went wild. Webb then came home on
Wesley Estrella's first Faulkner AB as a sacrifice fly was dropped and turned into a pseudo-triple on the error.
Orlando Lorduy brough Estrella home ahead of a pair of singles and and advancing groundout set up
Evan Gilliam for an RBI single to take a 3-0 lead into the second.
The Blue Raiders struck one back in the second, cashing in on a pair of hits to cut the lead to 3-1 where it remained until the fifth. Lorduy singled to right before a wild throw off a
Johnny Lopez grounder to third scored the Panamanian and advanced the Californian to third.
Juan Trinidad doubled home Lopez to take a 5-1 lead before Gilliam drew a two out walk to chase the LWC ace after a tough luck outing with only unearned runs as a double steal turned into a bad throw from the catcher to allow Trinidad to score to make it 6-1.
Estrella drew a walk to lead off the sixth ahead of Lorduy's RBI double to score Estrella.
Johnny Lopez then launched a solo shot to seal the scoreline.
Hunter Dupuy and
Evan Valencia combined for three strikeouts and just one hit over the final two innings to hold the game.
Lorduy and Trinidad each picked up three hits and Lopez two.
FAULKNER 6, LINDSEY WILSON 2
Nicholas Graham and
Orlando Lorduy were simply fantastic in the win. The Canadian pitcher carried a perfect game through 4.2 innings and struck out 11 batters over five innings while issuing no walks while Lorduy launched two homers.
After both pitchers worked a quick first inning, Lopez drew a walk to lead off the second before getting to third on two wild pitches ahead of a groundout RBI from
Jose Vargas.
Jorge Lucero entered in the bottom of the second after
Francisco Soriano started the game at third and Lucero made his presence felt with a double to left to score Trinidad to take a 2-0 lead. A balk set up Gilliam for a sac fly to score Lucero to take the three run advantage to the third. "It's always fun when a player shows the coach wrong," McCarthy said about Lucero's performance after making a defensive swap for Soriano in game two. Lucero finished 3-3 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI.
In the third, Lorduy launched a ball at approximately the speed of sound out of the park in right center field to take a 4-0 lead. "I think the first home run got out in like 1.3 seconds, it was just nuts," McCarthy jested.
Lucero's leadoff single in the fourth preceded a stolen base and a balk before he scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to five.
Lindsey Wilson pitched to Lorduy again in the fifth and paid for it with a homer that bounced off the top of the wall and over to take a six run lead. "That's just fun luck to have two on the day, but he's just a great player."
The Blue Raiders got two back in the sixth, cashing in on an error and a double but
Jordan Destefano was able to close the door on the game with three strikeouts over two.
Graham currently has 21 strikeouts over nine innings with just one hit, one walk and no runs allowed. McCarthy was thrilled with how the hurler threw. "He was lights out. Huge out of him."
Christian Webb delivered two hits with a double.
Trinidad stole two bases and the Eagles totaled five.
Faulkner leads the country in team slugging percentage (.747), stolen bases (30), ERA (1.03), and WHIP (.80).
Faulkner is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since 2021 when it started 7-0. The Eagles try to attain that record Saturday afternoon with two more seven inning games set for a noon start.
