JACKSON, Tenn. - Faulkner shined as the Eagles took a 8-4 win over Mobile to open the SSAC Baseball Championship Wednesday morning as
Samir Rojas continued his dominance over the in-state foe with the bats delivering five extra base hits.
The party started just four pitches in as
Jordan Carter blasted a home run to leadoff the tournament for his 10th home run of the season. Rojas worked a quick bottom half of the first but Mobile tied it in the second off some small ball after a hit by pitch.
In the top of the third, a double for
CJ Robertson initiated the inning with Edrien Martínez blasting his 18th home run of the season, tying Eduarny Martinez's mark last season and now Pittsburgh Pirates AA catcher Shawn Ross's 2022 total for the Eagles, and making it 3-1.
Rojas faced just one over the minimum in the third and fourth around a sacrifice fly from Carter to add a fourth run.
In the bottom of the fifth, Mobile cashed in on a leadoff error to score three times to tie it at four a piece.
Faulkner wasted no time getting back on top, turning two Mobile errors into three runs with Dariel Colón scoring on a wild pitch and
Jeyson Polanco delivering a haymaker with a two-RBI single to score
Tevin Landrum and
Orlando Arellano.
Rojas faced just one over the minimum for the next two innings before
Jimmy Perez drew a bases loaded walk to score
Marlon Oviedo in the top of the eighth to make it a four run ball game.
Rojas went back out for the bottom of the eighth and ran into a little trouble with two outs but struck out Wil King to end the inning. The second-team all-SSAC pitcher threw 115 pitches and allowed just four hits and one earned run while striking out six. Across two contests against Mobile, Rojas has thrown 15 innings and allowed just two earned runs to pick up two wins.
The Eagles (1-0 Pool A) will take on the loser of Brewton-Parker and Abraham Baldwin Thursday at either 10 a.m. or 1 p.m.
