LAKELAND, Fla. - The game of inches was decided by a couple feet Monday night as the Eagles saw a two-out go ahead home run sail just foul as the Eagles fell 8-7 to the host Southeastern at Ted A. Broer Stadium in the first game of the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.
Jordan Carter started the game with a single and got to second on an error before CJ Robertson advanced him to third. Edrien Martinez drew a walk
Mistakes piled up in the first with three errors and two free passes turning into two runs with just one out. Samir Rojas got a fly ball and a grounder to third to get out of the first inning.
Faulkner again led off with a runner on second as Anthony Bassett Torres doubled down the left field line and got runners on the corners but couldn't get him home.
Southeastern started the bottom half of the second with a walk then a flare single before a wild pitch and groundout plated two more to make it 4-0.
Robertson walked before a Martinez single and Polanco walk to load the bases with nobody out. Carter Schellsmidt delivered a one out dingle single, Bassett a fielder's choice and Dariel Colón a single to plate three and make it 4-3.
Rojas delivered a one-two-three inning in the bottom third and Southeastern answered in kind in the top fourth. Rojas fanned two around a second caught stealing between Schellsmidt and Bassett to get a clean fourth.
Jimmy Perez doubled with one out in the top of the fifth before coming home on a Bassett single to tie it at 4-4. In the bottom of the fifth, SEU hit a lead off homer and a bunt single to start rolling again. On five hits the Fire scored four to retake the lead.
Carter and Robertson singled to start the sixth. A one out wild pitch put two in position for Perez to deliver another big hit scoring two, making it 8-6.
Marshall Robinson took the hill and worked a scoreless inning in the bottom of the sixth.
Two errors from Southeastern put runners on the corners with nobody out. An Arellano suicide squeeze attempt was met with a great defensive play to retire Bassett at home but a Jordan Carter double scored one to make it 8-7 at the stretch.
Robinson dealt a pair of punchouts in the bottom of the seventh to go three up, three down and put the bats with to the Eagles.
A two out double from Bassett put the pressure on, but Faulkner could not find the tying run in the eighth.
A one out walk and double put two in scoring position for the Fire trying to add insurance. But Marshall Robinson happened. The reliever got a groundout to third where Martinez got the ball with plenty of time for a tag from Schellsmidt before ending the inning with a strikeout with two in scoring position.
In the ninth, Faulkner recorded two outs offensively before CJ Roberston singled on a 10 pitch at bat in which Faulkner was down to its last strike on seven pitches. That brought Edrien Martinez to the plate as the go-ahead run. On a 1-1 pitch, Martinez launched a ball a mile, but just a foot wide of the foul pole before fanning on the next pitch.
In the end, four errors led to three unearned runs to prove the difference between the two teams.
Rojas threw 109 pitches and allowed five earned runs over five innings.
Bassett went 3-5. Carter, Perez, and Colón each had two hits.
Faulkner will play for its season against Milligan tomorrow at 11 a.m.
