TIFTON – ABAC's baseball Stallions ended their regular season on a high note Friday afternoon, winning their final series of the year against the Thomas University Night Hawks. The Stallions lost the first game 8-2 before winning the second game 6-1.
 
By winning two games in the series, the Stallions solidify their fourth place finish in the conference heading into next week's Southern States Athletic Conference tournament in Jackson, Tenn. And, there's a chance they could rise another spot. Faulkner University, the league's second place team, self-reported a violation to the NAIA on April 17 regarding an ineligible player who played in 39 games for the Eagles this year. Last Saturday, the NAIA ruled that Faulkner must forfeit all 39 contests, which would take them out of the playoff picture with each team behind them rising a spot in the standings. Friday, Faulkner filed a temporary restraining order in the U.S. District Court against the SSAC and the NAIA in an effort to prevent the conference from seeding next week's tournament until their appeal is heard by the NAIA's National Coordinating Committee.
 
The Stallions entered Friday still in a battle with Middle Georgia State for fourth place in the league, but an outstanding performance on the mound by junior Kade Haywood bolstered ABAC's playoff position. After allowing only one hit through the first six innings, Haywood earned his sixth win of the year going eight strong innings while giving up only one run and striking out seven.
 
ABAC jumped on the Night Hawks early as Harrison Childers had an RBI single in the second before right fielder Joe Cooney blasted his seventh home run of the year in the third, a two-run shot for a 3-0 lead. In the fourth, Quentin Rawls smashed a single to left to score Chasin Cash before Joe Fisher closed out the scoring in the seventh inning with a two-run single. Rawls led the way at the plate with three hits, raising his season average to .394, while Cooney had two hits and reached base for the 31^st consecutive game.
 
The Stallions also jumped to a quick lead in Game One, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on Cris Walley's 17^th home run of the season, tying him for the lead in the SSAC. But that was all of the offense the Stallions could find as the Night Hawks took the lead with three runs in the third inning to go up 4-2. Thomas added three more in the fifth and a lone run in the seventh to secure their only win against ABAC in five tries this season.
 
Walley had two of the Stallions' six hits in Friday's first game while starter Trypp Lumpkin took the loss, evening his record at 4-4 on the year.
 
The Stallions are set to begin the SSAC tournament on Wednesday. The schedule for day one will be set after the rest of this weekend's games are completed and some determination is made regarding Faulkner's appeal.