JACKSON, Tenn. – The ABAC Stallions overcame a rough start Wednesday to defeat the Thomas University Night Hawks in the first round of the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament 9-7 at Rockabilly Field.
The Stallions, now 32-15 on the season, will play the Mobile Rams Thursday at 1 p.m. Central time in the second day of the pool play tournament. Mobile lost Wednesday to Loyola (La.), 9-4.
Wednesday's meeting was the sixth this year between ABAC and Thomas and the Night Hawks enjoyed their best start of any game in the series with a four-run first inning. Thomas's first four batters collected hits and after the first out, Michael Sowers roped a
Reigh Jordan offering to left field for another hit that drove in two runs for a 4-0 lead.
ABAC got one of those back in the bottom of the frame on
Joe Cooney's eighth home run of the year. It also marked the 32
nd consecutive game that Cooney has reached base. The Stallions pulled closer in the bottom of the third when catcher
Parker Wallace led off with a double. The Night Hawks had back-to-back errors which allowed pinch-runner
Cooper Scruggs to score and
Brayden Fordham singled in one more to cut the gap to 4-3.
After Thomas added a run in the fourth, ABAC broke away for good with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Quentin Rawls, Cooney, and Cris Walley each drove in runs in consecutive at-bats before Cooney scored on
Joe Fisher's groundout for a 7-5 lead.
Chasin Cash got into the act in the sixth with a double to left center, driving in two more runs to make it 9-6. Thomas scored one run in the eighth and had the bases loaded before reliever
Owen Lamb got the Night Hawks' Braydon Lawhon to ground out to second to end the threat. They threatened again in the ninth when Aidan Reyes led off with a triple against closer
Lalan Ellis. But the freshman struck out the next three batters to end the game and record his sixth save of the year.
After the rough first inning, Jordan settled down and recorded his team-high seventh win of the year. The Stallions totaled 11 hits as Wallace led the way with three.