HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The No. 13 ranked Eagles bounced back from a tough Friday evening with a very memorable Saturday, sweeping the doubleheader from William Carey to take the SSAC road series from the 15th-ranked Crusaders at Milton Wheeler Field in the rivalry matchup. Faulkner has won the last three series against WCU in Hattiesburg.
FAULKNER 10, WILLIAM CAREY 3
Brandon Napier earned his first SSAC start and kept William Carey off balance all afternoon. Over 110 pitches, the Thatcher, Ariz. native allowed just one earned and struck out six over a complete game effort.
Faulkner thanked him at the plate with 12 hits, the first of which to bring in a run was a single from
CJ Robertson, who earned his first start in the leadoff spot, to score
Anthony Bassett Torres with two outs in the third. In the fourth, Faulkner linked five hits for three runs with RBIs from
Carter Schellsmidt, Bassett and
Orlando Arellano. William Carey got two back in one swing from Taylor Walters in the bottom half, with the second run coming in off an error.
In the fifth, Faulkner capitalized on pitching miscues from the Crusaders. Robertson and Martinez reached on hit by pitches to put the first two on board. A double steal got runners on second and third with two outs where a wild pitch brought in Robertson.
Jimmy Perez drew a walk and swiped second before a wild pitch got him to third and scored Martinez to make it 6-2.
Alex Gonzalez drove in the second baseman Perez to make it seven. William Carey got one more back in the bottom half off an unearned run and made it 7-3.
Faulkner added three more in the sixth to pull away for good with three runs on three hits started by Arellano's leadoff walk and Robertson's single.
Napier fanned two to close it in the seventh.
Robertson, Schellsmidt and Bassett each had multiple hits.
FAULKNER 8, WILLIAM CAREY 7
The Eagles clinched the series with a massive fifth inning and a clutch ninth inning from the defense.
William Carey got on the board first when Deejay Booth hit a solo home run but Bassett launched a three run shot to cash in Dariel Colón's leadoff double and a walk from
Alex Gonzalez to take a 3-1 lead in the second inning. The lead stayed short lived as William Carey tacked on four in the button of the third as three free passes came back to roost as the hosts took a three run lead off a triple from Taylor Walters.
At the top of the fifth, Faulkner faced a new pitcher after Josh MacCord was ejected following a celebration after striking out Arellano to end the fourth and drew three walks in the first four batters to load them up for Colón. The left fielder tied it up, scoring both Robertson and Martinez off a single. Perez knocked home
Jordan Carter to take the lead. Gonzalez brought Colón in on a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.
After an effective bottom half of the inning from
Ramses Guerra,
Shaun Bridges led off with a single and Robertson walked before Bridges put on the PF Flyers and scored from second on a sacrifice fly to go up 8-5.
William Carey scored twice off three doubles in the eighth and had runners on second and third, but
Collin Rittenberry coaxed a groundout to second to get out with the lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Faulkner got three groundouts to clinch the series against the rival.
Bridges was 2-2 with a walk in the contest.
Guerra (3-0) picked up the win on the mound covering five innings.
Marshall Robinson faced the minimum and
Avery Shelton struck out two in his three outs worked across the perfect seventh. Rittenberry (1) earned the save getting the last six outs.
The Eagles return home and will take on Bryan (Tenn.) Wednesday afternoon in a midweek contest.
