WEST POINT – Needing a win to take the series from the Point Skyhawks, the ABAC Stallions jumped out early Saturday and never looked back en route to a 7-4 win as they won two out of three games in the Southern States Athletic Conference series. ABAC lost Friday's series opener 3-2 before winning Game Two 2-1.
 
Junior Trypp Lumpkin earned his fourth win as he kept the Skyhawks guessing all day. He pitched 8 2/3 innings and allowed six hits, although four came in the ninth when he finally tired after 121 pitches. He also added five more strikeouts to his conference-leading total of 65.
 
The Stallions opened with three runs in the first inning, two coming on Joe Fisher's single to center field that scored Cam Campbell and Quentin Rawls. Rawls scored another run in the second after he doubled and later scored on a wild pitch. It was 4-2 in the sixth when the Stallions added three more on RBI singles from Joe Cooney and Brayden Fordham. Cooney also scored on a wild pitch. Point rallied for two runs in the ninth before freshman Lalan Ellis relieved Lumpkin and retired the final Skyhawk on four pitches to notch his fourth save.
 
Both of Friday's contests were pitchers' duals. In Game Two, Stallion starter Kade Haywood got the win as he allowed only one earned run over six innings while Owen Lamb and Ellis combined to give up only one hit in three innings of relief. But ABAC was stymied by Skyhawk starter Harris Burns, who held the Stallions to three hits and no runs through sixth innings. Down 1-0, ABAC finally scored in the seventh when Campbell singled and Harrison Childers walked to start the inning. Burns was replaced by reliever Garrett Mullins, who walked Rawls to load the bases. Cooney made him pay with a two-run single to center and that was all of the runs the Stallions needed.
 
In the opener, each team had one big inning, but the Skyhawks' third was a bit bigger than ABAC's seventh. Point loaded the bases in the third with one out before Zavion Anderson drove in the game's first run on an RBI groundout to second base. After a walk, ABAC's Reigh Jordan gave up a two-run single to Arwin Burgos and Point led 3-0.
 
The Stallions rallied for two in the seventh and final inning. Childers walked and Rawls reached base on an error. Cooney's sacrifice fly scored Childers and Cris Walley drove in Rawls with a single to right to close the gap to 3-2. Fordham singled and Fisher was hit by a pitch to load the bases but reliever Dylan Davis got the final out to seal the win.
 
Fordham had four hits in the series while Cooney had three with five RBIs and Rawls added three as well. ABAC is now 26-14 overall and remains fourth in the SSAC at 15-12. Next week, the Stallions return to Tifton with a three-game, non-conference set against Toccoa Falls College. The series starts with a doubleheader Thursday at 4 p.m. with a third game Friday at 1 p.m.