MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner's effort to ascend the SSAC standings garnered at least one more rung Friday when the Eagles topped Loyola 11-7 to cap the regular season with a sweep.
Faulkner fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first as the Wolf Pack got RBI singles from Nathan McDonald, Ayden Authement and Reed Duthu. The Eagles got on the board in the home half of the first when Edrien Martinez launched a solo homer to cut it to 3-1.
Colin Cure singled to left to drive in Jaxon Buratt in the second inning, moving the Loyola advantage back to three runs. The Faulkner bats kept chipping away in the second inning as
Orlando Arellano hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in
Anthony Bassett Torres. C.J. Robertson later hit a ground ball that was misplayed, allowing
Jimmy Perez to cross home and move the score to 4-3. Perez leveled the game in the third inning when he dropped down a squeeze bunt that got Martinez home to tie it.
McDonald drove in the first of three Loyola runs in the fourth as his single to first got J.J. Garcia home. Duthu's grounder got McDonald home for the 6-4 advantage before Drew Lee singled to third to drive in Cure for the 7-4 advantage.
Jordan Carter turned the game around in the home half of the fourth when he launched a three-run homer to left center to tie it.
Marlon Oviedo put the Eagles on top with a sacrifice fly to center that drove in
Tevin Landrum. Torres added to the lead with a double to left center that plated Carter for the 9-7 advantage. Dariel Colón later singled to center to drive in Torres and
Alex Gonzalez.
The middle inning offensive outburst proved to be plenty for the bullpen quartet of
Marshall Robinson,
Avery Shelton,
Collin Rittenberry and
Bracken Rice. That group combined to work four innings, allowing two hits, issuing two walks, recording three strikeouts and keeping Loyola from scoring.
The win pulled Faulkner to 28-21 in the regular season and 15-12 in SSAC play. The victory guarantees the Eagles no worse than the fifth seed in the SSAC tournament.
Faulkner could climb to fourth pending the outcome of the Mobile vs. Point game that started moments before the conclusion of the Eagles' regular season.
Faulkner (28-21) will play next week in the SSAC tournament at Rockabillys Stadium in Jackson, Tenn. The schedule calls for pool play games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the championship game set for Saturday.
