FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Franklin baseball team opened the home portion of their conference schedule on Sunday (Apr. 2) afternoon with two games against the rival Hanover Panthers.
 
Franklin's (14-6, 4-1 HCAC) offense was the story of the afternoon, smacking six home runs and racking up 30 hits in a twin bill sweep of the Panthers (7-13, 1-4 HCAC) with scores of 13-6 and 18-8.
 
Game One: Franklin 13 – Hanover 6
Game one starting pitchers dominated the first five innings of play, with the two teams combining for just two hits and a pair of Franklin runs with a Tysen Lipscomb RBI single in the third and an error leading to a second FC run in the fourth. The Grizzlies added to their lead in the sixth with Colby Reed's two-run blast highlighting a four-run frame that made it a 6-0 game.
 
The lead held until the top of the eighth when the Panthers stormed back with six runs to tie things up. But the Griz bats had an answer of their own in the bottom of the inning, as they dropped seven runs to put things away. Sean Sullivan knocked in the go-ahead run with a single followed by another RBI single from Lipscomb and a three-run blast from Matt Earley that put a stamp on the win.
 
Lipscomb went 3-for-5 with three knocked in. Reed went 2-for-3 with three runs scored to go along with his home run. Matthew Johnson got the start on the mound, fanning eight over 5.1 innings while Maddox Manes (4-0) picked up the win after striking out three in 1.2 innings of relief. Franklin pitching combined to strike out 16 Hanover batters in game one.
 
Game Two: Franklin 18 – Hanover 8 (8 inn.)
Anthony Smith opened the scoring in the first with a bases loaded walk drawn and Franklin cashed in on two wild pitches to add a pair more to their lead. Hanover battled back with three runs in the second and took their first lead of the day in the third with a lead-off blast that made it a 4-3 game. Earley and Jonathan LaGuire bashed two-run homers each in the third to re-take the lead but a two-run shot from the Panthers had the game sitting at 7-6 Franklin as the game headed to the bottom of the sixth.
 
Earley and Noah Wood restored a three-run lead with back-to-back RBI singles in the sixth but Hanover netted two more in the seventh to keep the game at a one-run contest. Sullivan belted a two-run shot in the seventh and Franklin's offense put up seven runs in the eighth to bring the contest to a close.
 
Earley went 3-for-5 with five knocked in and both Wood and AJ Sanders had three-hit games in the night cap. LaGuire drove in four runs from the eight spot, hitting the first home run and triple of his FC career in the game.
 
Jackson Young (4-0) picked up the win with six strikeouts over 5.2 innings of work.
 
The two teams are back at McDowell Field on Monday (Apr. 3) for the series finale with a single game set to begin at 4:00 p.m.