JACKSON, Tenn. -
Billy Girgis made an over-the-shoulder catch,
Drew Hurst struck out his last man and the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Stallions held on for an 8-7 victory over Faulkner University Friday afternoon to advance to the Southern States Athletic Conference championship game and a berth in the NAIA national tournament.
ABAC, which won a school-record 39th game - and 13th consecutive - will play the winner of William Carey and Loyola Saturday at 1Â p.m. EST.
The game will be broadcast live for free on Urban Edge Network. The other half of the championship game was being played Friday evening.
Both SSAC finalists are guaranteed a spot in nationals. ABAC otherwise had an excellent shot of being an at-large selection but now they have the security that their season will continue beyond this week.
Hurst threw the last two frames against Faulkner after
Trypp Lumpkin gave seven strong innings of work. Lumpkin picked up the win and Hurst his fourth save of 2026.
Visitors Friday, ABAC scored the first two runs, but Faulkner immediately posted two of their own in the bottom half. No lead was ever comfortable, be it the Eagles' 3-2 in the 3rd, ABAC's 5-3 or even their 8-4.
Three runs in the 7th gave them the 8-4 advantage. The Eagles immediately got two back the same inning. In the 8th, a balk and a wild pitch set up a sacrifice fly for Orlando Arellano, making the contest even more uncomfortable for fans of the Green and Gold.
After the Stallions went 1-2-3 in the 9th, Hurst gave up a leadoff single.
The next man hit a roller to shortstop
Quinten Rawls in front of the second base bag. Rawls stepped back and got the lead runner for the first out. Ever-dangerous Edrien Martinez singled and it was two on and one out.
Then came the pop-up. With the wind pushing the ball into no-man's land for right fielder
Dylan Davis, Girgis came out of nowhere from second base to make an over-the-shoulder snag. The runner tagged and moved to third, but now were two outs.
Hurst started Anthony Bassett Torres with a strike looking, then got him to swing at the second pitch. The third offering was in the dirt, but Bassett swung anyway.
Parker Wallace threw to
Chasin Cash at first to complete the out and another nail-biting game.
ABAC was cooking in the 1st inning.
Zack Bowman sent a single past shortstop and Cash doubled off the right field wall for a 1-0 lead. With two down,
Kam Taylor singled up the middle and the Stallions were ahead 2-0.
The first two Faulkner hitters had hits. A pair of sacrifice flies plated both, the latter featuring Girgis' first big catch of the day.
One inning later, the Eagles went ahead on a wild pitch. That held for only minutes as ABAC posted three runs in the 4th.
Faulkner had four errors Friday. The one after an infield hit by
Cameron Campbell meant the Stallions had a runner at second and no outs.
Drew Rothschild and Wallace reached to load the bases with none down.
Girgis hit a slow roller to the left side of the infield and a rushed throw as off the target and scored Campbell. Faulkner did get the next man at the plate on a force, but could not turn two off Bowman's bat, plating Wallace's courtesy runner
Trace Hodges.
Cash extended the inning with a walk and with the bases juiced again, the Eagles threw a pitch wide of the plate with Davis up and Girgis scooted home for a 5-3 lead.
The Eagles got one back in the 5th, but ran into trouble again in the 7th.
Davis and Campbell earned walks for two aboard and one out. Rothschild fouled out, but Wallace came through in the clutch again, poking a base hit to left, scoring Davis.
Another error put Girgis on, bringing up Rawls. Rawls singled to drive in Campbell and another miscue got in Hodges as well. ABAC was now ahead 8-4.
Wallace delivered three hits for the Stallions and an RBI. Rawls and Campbell had two hits each. Errors meant that only three of the Stallions' runs were earned.
The 39th win of the year for ABAC broke a record set just last season.
