TALLADEGA, Ala. - The fifth inning determined the third and fourth games of the weekend series at Talladega as the Eagles (24-10, 13-5 SSAC) again shared the daily victories with the former conference foe to have an even split of the four contests this weekend.
TALLADEGA 9, FAULKNER 2
The Eagles strong start held strong for 4.5 innings but Talladega ramped it up and ran away with a six spot in the fifth in the opener Saturday.
Johnny Lopez launched a two run homer with two outs in the first inning to score
Evan Gilliam but that was all the scoring the Eagles could get across as the Tornado pitching staff held the bats to just four hits.
Nicholas Graham cruised through the first four innings allowing just one hit and no runs but ran into trouble in the fifth.
FAULKNER 6, TALLADEGA 4
Faulkner led wire to wire to earn a season series split with Talladega on the back of a big fifth inning.
Juan Trinidad turned a first inning hit by pitch into a run after sealing second and getting to third on a wild pitch so
Christian Webb's two-out single could turn into an RBI to take a 1-0 lead.
Eduarny Martinez hit his sixth home run of the season in the fourth inning to double the advantage. The Tornadoes got one back in the bottom half but Faulkner poured it on in the fifth.
After a sacrifice bunt from
Evan Gilliam put
Jorge Lucero on second Trinidad singled to put runners on the corners. Lucero scored on a pickoff error attempting to get Trinidad home and the shortstop scored later that at bat off an
Orlando Lorduy double. Lopez followed with his second two-run blast of the day to take a 6-1 lead. Lopez now has a long ball in three of his last five games.
The Tornadoes scored two more with a sixth inning single but
Jordan Destefano found a way out of the inning and worked an efficient seventh to close the game and earn his fourth save of the season.
Trinidad and Martinez each ended the game with two hits.
Tyberius Correa earned the win on the mound with five strikeouts over 4.2 innings and allowing just one earned run.
After the off weekend from league play, Faulkner is now tied atop the SSAC standings with Loyola at 13-5 in SSAC action after sweeping Middle Georgia. William Carey is just one game behind after sweeping Stillman. Mobile is two games back after sweeping Point. The Eagles own the tiebreaker over the other teams in the current top four of the league having beaten all of them in the regular season series 2-1.
The Eagles welcome new SSAC foe Thomas to Harrison Field in a return to conference play Friday at 6 p.m.
