MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner had its opportunities but wilted late in a 4-2 loss to Webber International Saturday. The showed a stark contrast to the series-opening Friday doubleheader that saw the teams combine for 43 runs.
Each pitching staff proved dominant until the sixth Saturday when the bats finally broke through. The Warriors got a pair of singles and played some small ball to get Tugg Hollandsworth home on a Keegan Martin single in the top of the sixth for the 1-0 lead.
Faulkner battled back in the home half of the inning as a Dariel Colón leadoff double helped set up an Edrien Martínez sacrifice fly to left to tie the game.
Carter Schellsmidt later reached on an error, allowing
Jordan Carter to score and put the Eagles up 2-1.
The Warriors leveled the game in the top of the seventh when Kaleb Henry stroked a single to right-center to drive in Trevor Murray.
WIU pushed across the go-ahead run in the eighth when David Zamora doubled to left-center to drive in Martin. Ty Mathews later hit a SAC fly to get Zamora home for the 4-2 advantage.
Ryan Franklin did not factor in the decision despite working six strong innings for the Warriors with five strikeouts and one earned run allowed. Tyler Helton got the win while Brandon Vazquez struck out two in a scoreless eighth for the hold. Steven Rojas collected the save with a clean ninth inning.
Ramses Guerra made the most of his 50-pitch start for the Eagles, allowing just one hit and facing the minimum over four innings of work while striking out three and issuing no walks.
Faulkner (2-1) is set to host Stillman College Tuesday at 4 p.m. for an intrastate, non-conference clash.
