MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The 2026 season opened more than a week later than expected, yet the bats were right on time for the Eagles Friday. Faulkner (2-0) took both ends of a doubleheader against Webber International, twice relying upon last at-bat heroics to fell the No. 8 team in the country.
FAULKNER 8, WEBBER INTERNATIONAL 7
The Eagles got the sticks working early in game one of the series as a
Jordan Carter single through the left side plated Dariel Colón in the top of the first. Edrien Martínez followed with a sacrifice fly to drive home
Nathan Huie before
Anthony Bassett Torres singled in Carter for the 3-0 advantage.
The lead grew to 5-0 in the third as
Carter Schellsmidt lifted one into the jet stream to right for a two-run homer. Torres later scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.
The Eagles appeared to be in cruise control before the fourth when the Warriors got off the deck. An Austen Jaslove double knocked in two. Jalen Martinez notched an RBI in the fifth and two more in the seventh to cut it to 6-5. Mike Cuello doubled in a pair in the seventh to put WIU up 7-6.
Undaunted, the Eagles delivered at the plate again in the home half of the seventh. Carter singled in
Jeyson Polanco to tie it before Edrien Martínez singled to right to drive in
Shaun Bridges for the walk-off win.
Samir Rojas got the start on the mound, using 66 pitches to cover 3.2 innings of work while allowing two earned runs.
Peyton Perdue (1-0) got the win after shutting the door in the top of the seventh. He needed a total of six pitches to retire the two batters he faced.
FAULKNER 15, WEBBER INTERNATIONAL 13
The Eagles scored the final six runs of game two, including five in the bottom of the eighth, to overcome an overly benevolent pitching performance. Eagle pitchers plunked five batters and walked 13 more as part of a 12-earned-run performance.
After taking a 7-0 lead through two innings of play, Faulkner allowed two in the third and a 10-spot in the fifth to go down 12-8. By the bottom of the seventh, the deficit was 13-9. Colón knocked in
CJ Robertson in the seventh to narrow the gap to 13-10. That combo got its opportunity to make a difference again in the eighth. Robertson coaxed a bases-loaded walk to make it 13-11. Colón then singled through the left side to plate Torres and Bridges to tie the game. Polanco followed with a double to right-center to get Robertson and Colón home.
Austin Lippolis (1) slammed the door in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts to get his first save.
Collin Netto (1-0) stabilized things for two scoreless innings of relief work, fanning three batters while issuing no walks.
The Eagles wasted little time getting the scoring going as Edrien Martínez smacked a grand slam in the first inning for the 4-0 lead. Polanco ripped a SAC fly to left to drive in Colón in the second before Martínez struck again. The Eagle third baseman followed his game one heroics and game two theatrics with a traditional single up the middle that plated two for the 7-0 lead.
Martínez ended the day with six hits in eight at-bats. He tallied 12 bases, blasted two home runs and drove in nine. He was one of six Eagles with a multi-hit day as Faulkner amassed a total of 23 base knocks. Polanco finished with four hits while Colón also notched four, including his first multi-hit game as an Eagle. That tandem atop the Faulkner order also drove in three runs apiece.
The teams are set to wrap the series Saturday with a single nine-inning game beginning at noon.
