Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Pitching and defense dominated Thursday night's game at Golden Park between Belhaven University and Faulkner University with the Eagles coming away with a 1-0 win on day three of pool play at the 2013 Southern States Athletic Conference Championships.

Faulkner pitchers Will Dismukes and Brad Griffis combined for the shutout while Robert Marzoni turned in a career performance for the Blazers, limiting the Eagles to one run. Faulkner had averaged 14.5 runs in their first two games of pool play, rolling to a 19-6 win over Auburn University-Montgomery and a 10-0 shutout of Southern Polytechnic State University.

Faulkner (47-10) scored the only run of the night in the bottom of the first after the Blazers left two on base in the top of the inning. The Eagles had three straight hits to start the frame with center fielder Brook Boudreaux, catcher Zac Colby, and DH Michael Cruz all getting on via singles. Cruz's single to center brought home Boudreaux for a 1-0 lead.

Faulkner went on to load the bases with nobody out and the game was on the verge of getting out of hand early. However, Marzoni buckled down and struck out second baseman Luis Sanchez for the first out, induced a force out at home on a fielder's choice by shortstop Dauris Holguin, and then got first baseman Cayleb Coker to ground out to short to end the inning.

Marzoni would deal with multiple runners on base in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings, but the Eagles were unable to break through for any additional runs.

Meanwhile, Belhaven (37-21) had just as hard a time breaking through against Dismukes who limited the Blazers to five hits. Belhaven did have a couple of opportunities to produce runs in the third in seventh frames, leaving two runners on base each time.

However, the seventh inning had the most promise with center fielder Reagan Rutledge and right fielder Emilio DeSilva both reaching base to start the inning. Dismukes walked Rutledge on a 3-2 pitch and DeSilva got hit on a 2-0 offering to put runners on first and second.

Designated hitter Daniel Gilbert then dropped down a textbook sacrifice bunt that moved DeSilva and Rutledge to second and third respectively. With his back against the wall, Dismukes struck out pinch hitter Hamilton Harper and then retired left fielder Dominick Francia on a hard ground ball back up the middle.

Francia was arguably inches away from a single that would have tied the game or given Belhaven the lead. The ball hit in front of the mound, deflected off the very top of Dismukes glove right to Sanchez at second base who threw out Francia to end the inning. The Blazers were unable to put runners on base in the eighth or ninth innings against Griffis.

Marzoni pitched all eight innings for Belhaven and suffered a tough loss, dropping his record to 2-3 on the season. Marzoni surrendered the one run on 10 hits, did not walk anybody and struck out five.

At the dish, five different Blazers had singles including Francia, Rutledge, second baseman Ryne Cook, third baseman Jason Hicks, and catcher Kyle Wheeler.

Dismukes took home a well earned victory for Faulkner, limiting the Blazers to five hits over seven innings. He walked four and struck out five and in the process runs his record to 11-1. Griffis got his fifth save of the season with a scoreless eighth and ninth innings. Cruz and Colby each had three hits for the Eagles with Cruz collecting the only RBI. Neither team had an extra base hit on Thursday night.

Belhaven finished the tournament with a 1-2 record and will now await word on a possible at-large bid to the NAIA Championship Opening. The final NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll is due to be released on Sunday followed by the announcement of the tournament field. Seeding and at-large selections are determined by that final poll.

Faulkner will move on to the SSAC Championship game on Saturday and will face either Lee University or William Carey University out of Pool B. Both teams are unbeaten at 2-0 and will play each other on Friday at Golden Park.