Eagles Let Lead Slip Against Faulkner

David Finney

Montgomery, AL - The Eagles would start out right where they left off from the weekend series with Bluefield and put four runs on the board early. Jacob Profit, Tucker Zdunich, Patrick Baggett, and Nick Sanders all would come across the plate in the first inning. Profit and Zdunich both were walked to get on base and Nick Sanders was hit by a pitch. Patrick Baggett and Alex Coulter would get the hits in the inning to get runs in.  This four-run inning would provide a good cushion for starting pitcher, Jordan Hampton, to come in and do his thing.

Hampton had a great first few innings on the mound for the Eagles. He would get in four total innings in the game and record 2 strikeouts and only allow one hit. Hampton would give up zero runs while he was in the game. Jaily Parades would come in to pitch in the top of the fifth inning. In the fifth, Parades would get a strikeout, a ground out, and a pop up to center to make quick work of the Eagles of Faulkner. He would run into a little trouble in the sixth inning as Reinhardt would have a couple of errors and a few wild pitches that kept the inning going. In total, three runs crossed the plate for Faulkner getting them back into the game, however, the Eagles still had a 7-3 lead.

The young left-hander, Hunter Paulsen, would come in to relieve Parades in the seventh inning and it just would not be his night pitching. He would only get through two-thirds of the inning as he would allow four hits and two runs while he was in the game. Andrew Herbert would come in the bottom of the seventh inning to try to get RU out of the jam. Unfortunately, the first batter he faced hit a three-run homer which would give Faulkner an 8-7 lead after seven innings. Herbert was able to come back in the eighth and ninth and did not give up a hit or any runs.

Besides the good start that the Reinhardt batters created, they also were able to score one run in the fourth and then two more in the fifth. Jarrett Burney scored in the fourth inning after reaching base on a bunt. Jacob Profit singled to center to move Burney to second and a passed ball allowed both to move to second and third. A sac fly to center would score Burney, but Profit would get stuck on third.

In the fifth inning, Albert Mora doubled to left field which would score Patrick Baggett. Baggett singled to right to start the inning. A wild pitch moved Mora to third and then he was hit home on a fielder's choice by Alex Coulter. At the end of five innings, Reinhardt had a solid seven-run lead and it appeared that they were heading for a win, but then the struggles of the sixth and seventh innings happened. The Eagles were unable to score any more runs after the fifth inning and Faulkner was able to escape with a narrow one-point win, 8-7. 

Jacob Profit would go 2 for 3 in the game and Patrick Baggett would go 2 for5 to lead Reinhardt in hitting. Albert Mora would go 1 for 2 with a double. 

It is unfortunate to lose a game this way and there were good moments in this game, but a few errors, wild pitches, and giving up a few timely hits can lead to letting go of all the brilliant work that had been done in the first five innings. The Eagles have no time to rebound from this as they will be right back at it on Wednesday afternoon when Truett McConnell comes to Waleska for a single midweek game. The game will be at 4 pm at Ken White Field.