MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner split a doubleheader with Bethel Saturday, taking game one 6-5 to win the four-game series before running out of gas in the final contest of the weekend.
FAULKNER 6, BETHEL 5
The Eagles clinched the series win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader with a 6-5 victory. Mose Hayes frustrated the Wildcats for five innings as he used 72 pitches to scatter four hits and two walks while striking out seven. The righty allowed just one earned run during the effort and exited the game with a 5-1 lead.
Hayes did not factor into the decision as the Wildcats rallied to hang a four spot in the top of the sixth innings. The offensive outburst came in the form of a three-run homer off the bat of C.J. Thomas and a solo homer from Jared Hall. With the game newly knotted at five runs apiece, the Faulkner bats got back to work in the home half of the sixth.
Luis Lizarraga reached on a leadoff beanball before giving way to Tevin Landrum as a pinch runner. Landrum advanced all the way to third on a wild pitch and touched home on a sacrifice fly to center by Kenny Di Clemente. Landrum's run proved to be the game-winner as Alonzo Castellanos worked around a leadoff single in the seventh to nail down his first save of the season. Jordan Destefano (1-0) got the win with two-thirds of an inning of relief work.
After Bethel took a 1-0 lead in the first, Faulkner answered with a three-run home half. Jeyson Polanco lifted a solo homer to left center to tie the game before Edrien Martinez singled to plate Orlando Lorduy. Lizarraga later singled to right center to get Landrum home and put the Eagles up 3-1. Eduarny Martinez launched a solo homer in the second to make it 4-1. Lorduy added a run on an error in the fifth to move the lead to 5-1.
BETHEL 9, FAULKNER 8
The Wildcats earned a doubleheader split and salvaged a game in the series Saturday night when they rallied in extra innings to beat Faulkner 9-8. Thomas singled home a pair of runners in the eighth to put Bethel up 9-7. Faulkner got one back in the home half of the eighth when Lorduy hit a sacrifice fly to left to plate Dariel Colón. Faulkner got one more hitter to the plate with the tying and go-ahead runs aboard but was unable to cash in.
Bethel opened the scoring in the first with a solo homer from Ivan Vega. Eduarny Martinez got Faulkner on the board with a three-run homer in the second. The Wildcats tied the game with a two-run third and regained the lead with a three-run fourth that included a homer off the bat of Hall. Thomas added to the lead with a solo shot in the fifth that made it 7-3. Lorduy struck in the fifth with a two-run homer that cut the deficit to 7-5. Edrien Martinez tied the game in the seventh with a single that scored John-Michael Riley and Polanco.
Faulkner (7-1) gets one more outing before opening SSAC play next weekend. The Eagles host Freed-Hardeman University Tuesday at 1 p.m. before taking on No. 6 Reinhardt immediately afterward.
