MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Brent DeFoor (8-1) pitched eight innings allowing four hits and two runs as fourth seeded Faulkner defeated fifth seed Southern Wesleyan 10-3 in an opening round game at the Southern States Athletic Conference baseball tournament.

The Eagles got all the offense they needed from Ryan Duwe as he had three hits including a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Faulkner a 5-3 lead.  Kris Price also had a huge game at the plate with three hits and three RBI.
 
Faulkner scored two runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings, and pushed across another four runs in the bottom of the eighth.
 
“We did a good job,’’ Faulkner head coach Andy Priola said. “We feel behind early, but nobody panicked. We had some good at-bats and scored a lot late. We know we just have to keep winning. We’re a young team, and although we struggled early in the season against a tough schedule, we’re playing good baseball now. We’ve become a team that’s playing with a lot of confidence.’’
 
The game was a huge game for both teams as Faulkner passed SWU this week in the region poll and moved into the coveted sixth spot in the regional rankings.  The top six ranked region teams will advance to the regional tournament being played in another week.
 
With the win Faulkner (31-21) moves to the second round where they will face the winner of the AUM/Reinhardt game at 7 p.m. tomorrow.  SWU (32-20) will drop to the loser’s bracket where they will face the loser of the AUM/Reinhardt game at 1 p.m. tomorrow.