BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – Faulkner held on in the ninth inning of game two Friday night to earn a 6-5 victory and a doubleheader split with SSAC foe Blue Mountain Christian after having dropped game one of the twin bill 8-2.
BLUE MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN 8, FAULKNER 2
A disastrous bottom of the sixth in game one of the series proved the undoing of Faulkner as the Toppers plated seven runs in the frame to fuel an 8-2 victory. BMC got hits from the first four batters of the inning to chase starter Marco Ozuna (5-1). Prior to the offensive explosion in the sixth, Ozuna had been pretty close to lights out. He was perfect through three innings of work and pitched around runners in the fourth to allow just one across. He rebounded with a dominant fifth to protect a 2-1 lead.
However, the home half of the sixth opened with a single and a triple to tie the game before two more singles resulted in the Eagles turning to the bullpen while trailing 3-2. The Toppers pushed five more runs across before the 12th batter of the inning accounted for the third out.
Faulkner got the scoring started in the top of the first as a leadoff double from
Juan Trinidad preceded a
Jeyson Polanco sacrifice bunt and an
Orlando Lorduy SAC fly for the 1-0 advantage. After Blue Mountain tied it in the fourth, the Eagles got a one-out double from
Marlon Oviedo in the fifth. Two batters later, Trinidad drove him home with a single for the 2-1 lead.
FAULKNER 6, BLUE MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN 5
The Eagles got off the deck to hold on for a 6-5 win in game two of the series. Will Crawford started the bottom of the ninth with a double for BMC before back-to-back walks loaded the bases with nobody out. A fielder's choice got Crawford home to cut it to 6-5.
Jordan Destefano then struck out the next batter before inducing a grounder to first to end the game and record his fifth save of the season.
The effort from Destefano followed a brilliant relief outing from
Alonzo Castellanos (2-1), who struck out nine batters over three innings while allowing two hits and issuing one walk. Castellanos picked up the win entering with bases loaded an nobody out in the bottom of the sixth and striking out three in a row to keep the game even.
The Eagles took the lead in the seventh when Polanco scored on an error to put his team up 5-4. Faulkner added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a
Kenny Di Clemente single that plated
John-Michael Riley to make it 6-4.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the second on a
Christian Webb sacrifice fly that drove in Eduarny Martinez. Oviedo followed with a two-run homer to stake the Eagles to a 3-0 lead. Blue Mountain Christian got two of those runs back in the home half of the second inning. Faulkner got a sacrifice fly from Lorduy in the third to drive in Polanco and move the lead to 4-2. Blue Mountain got one across in the third and another in the fourth to tie the game.
Faulkner (15-4, 6-2 SSAC) will try to win the series Saturday at 1 p.m. when it faces Blue Mountain Christian for game three.
