FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Franklin College baseball team hosted the Mount St. Joseph Lions for two games in the final regular season home set at John P. McDowell Field.

The Grizzlies (21-11) made a season-long five-game sweep of the Lions (12-24), taking the opener in seven innings 17-7 before rallying with nine runs late in game two to earn a 12-7 victory.

Game One: Franklin 17 – MSJ 7 (7 inn.)
Down by a run in the second, Sean Sullivan brought home Franklin's first run with a deep sacrifice fly. One batter later, Wellington doubled into the left center field gap, plating two and scoring himself on a throwing error to make it a 4-1 game.

One frame later, Logan Demkovich led off the inning with a home run and Jackson Young cracked his first career dinger two batters later. Wellington drove in his third run of the game later in the inning and Franklin held a 7-2 lead after three innings.

The Grizzlies busted things wide open with a nine-run fourth inning that pushed the lead to 16-2 with Young, Sullivan, Wellington, Tysen Lipscomb and Jacob Heuchan all driving runners home. Lipscomb capped the scoring in the Franklin half of the sixth with an RBI ground out.

Krae Sparks (2-0) got his second start of the year and went four innings with four strikeouts to pick up the win. Tyler Placke tossed a career-high 2.2 innings in relief with Tyler Robinson recording the game's final out.

Wellington went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, four RBI and his third home run of the year. Lipscomb, Young and Sullivan all knocked in three runs in support.

Game Two: Franklin 12 – MSJ 7
The Mount opened the scoring once again with three runs in the second before the Grizzlies plated a run in the bottom half of the inning when a balk allowed Lipscomb to trot home. An RBI single from Wright and sac fly from Lipscomb in the third added to Franklin's total, but the host side headed into the final four innings facing a 6-3 deficit.

The Grizzlies erased the Lions' lead with a five-run sixth. Franklin's first five hitters reached base in the inning with Jake Bryant, Wellington and Ryan Bixler recording hits that all knocked in a run to tie the game. Nick Wright put the hosts ahead for the first time with a sac fly and another balk allowed Bixler to score and set the Grizzlies up with an 8-6 lead with three innings to go.

The Lions got a run back in the eighth but left the bags full. The Grizzlies made the Lions pay with four more runs in the eighth with Demkovich, Bryant and Garrett Ramsey all padding the lead.

Relief ace Alex Reinoehl (6-2) entered the game in the fourth and shut the Lions down the rest of the way. Reinoehl allowed one earned run on two hits with one walk and five strikeouts over the final 5.1 innings. Bret Sawyer made his first career start in his final regular season home game, allowing three earned runs over 2.2 innings.

Up Next
Franklin heads to Hanover for the final three games of the regular season, starting with two games on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.