FRANKLIN, Ind. – For the first time in 364 days, John P. McDowell Field was the site for Franklin College baseball when the Grizzlies opened the 2021 season with a pair of games against the Manchester Spartans on Saturday (Mar. 6) afternoon.

The opener saw the Spartans (1-1) take advantage of a wild Franklin (1-1) pitching staff to earn a 12-7 win. Game two saw the script get flipped with the Grizzlies using two big innings to take a 13-3 win in seven innings.

Game One: Manchester 12 – Franklin 7
The two sides had identical line scores through four innings with both sides scoring one run in the first, three in the second and one in the fourth. Nick Wright, Logan Demkovich and Quenton Wellington all recorded RBI singles and Wellington swiped home as part of a double steal in the second. But trouble arose in the next two innings with the Spartans scoring five straight runs.

Demkovich knocked in a run with a double and scored on a passed ball in the sixth to cut Manchester's lead to 10-7, capping the scoring for Franklin.

Krae Sparks got the start for the Grizzlies, giving up four runs over five innings of work. Franklin walked a total of 14 Manchester batters in the opener while striking out six.

Game Two: Franklin 13 – Manchester 3 (7 inn.)
Case Starkey brought in the first run of the second game the hard way, getting hit with a pitch with the bases loaded for his first career RBI. One batter later, Wellington cleared the bags with a triple into the right-center field gap that made it 4-0 Franklin.

Manchester plated one in the third and two in the fifth to get within a run before Franklin's offense exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fifth. Demkovich started the rally with an RBI triple and Nick Wright followed with a long home run that made it 7-3. Matt Helm, Starkey and Ryan Bixler would all add RBI singles later in the inning that stretched the lead to 13-3 and called on the mercy rule after seven innings.

Junior Nick McClanahan (1-0) made his first career start and dominated Manchester hitters. The Ryle, Ky.-native allowed three runs on four hits with three walks and 12 strikeouts over five innings of work. Hit 12 punch-outs are the most in a game by a Franklin pitcher since Hayden Cleveland fanned the same amount back on Feb. 27, 2016.

The Grizzlies are back in action on Sunday (Mar. 7), taking on Defiance College at McDowell Field. First pitch of the double-header is set for noon.