Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FRANKLIN – It was the start of a massive three-game conference series for the Franklin baseball team on Saturday (Apr. 22) afternoon with the Rose-Hulman Engineers in town for two games at John P. McDowell Field.
 
Game one saw the Franklin (24-7, 12-1 HCAC) offense take over in a 17-8 win before the Grizzlies took a low-scoring game two from the Engineers (16-14, 8-4 HCAC) in extra innings with a 4-3 walk-off win.
 
Game One: Franklin 17 – Rose-Hulman 8
A two-out RBI single from Matt Earley in the first knotted game one up and an inning later, Franklin took the lead for the first time when Jonathan LaGuire-Cruz clubbed a lead-off home run over the wall in right center field. Rose plated two runs in the third to re-take the lead but Franklin snatched the lead right back in their half of the third thanks to an RBI single from LaGuire-Cruz and a sac fly from Dyllan Redmon that made it 4-3.
 
Sean Sullivan stretched the Franklin lead to 6-3 with a two-run blast in the fourth and after the Engineers left the bags full in the fifth, Anthony Smith added to Franklin's lead with an RBI single in the fifth. Rose cut the deficit to a run with three in the sixth but Franklin blew the game open with a six-run seventh that featured a RBIs from LaGuire-Cruz, Smith and AJ Sanders.
 
LaGuire-Cruz smacked a three-run homer in the seventh and Earley singled home another run in the eighth to cap a game that saw Franklin score at least one run in every trip to the plate.
 
It was a monster contest for LaGuire-Cruz, who went 5-for-6 with four runs scored and six driven in. Smith had three hits to go along with two knocked in while both Earley and Sullivan collected two hits in the game.
 
Matthew Johnson got the call for game one and struck out five over four innings of work. Reed Shaffer earned the win in Franklin's second straight game with a scoreless inning of work. Sam Peck, Damian Tillie and Will Butts combined to take the final four innings on the mound.
 
Game Two: Franklin 4 – Rose-Hulman 3 (10 inn.)
The Engineers opened the scoring in the first with a two-run double but LaGuire-Cruz halved the lead in the bottom of the second with another long home run. Franklin stayed behind in the game until the bottom of the fourth when Noah Wood clubbed a two-out, two run home run to put the home side in front 3-2.
 
Both offenses would go silent until late in the game, as Franklin's Jackson Young and Rose's Michael Yager shut down the bats on both sides. With two outs in the top of the ninth, the Engineers broke through with a run-scoring single off Young and combined with a scoreless bottom of the inning, the two sides headed off to extra innings.
 
The first two Engineer batters in the 10^th reached off Franklin's Maddox Manes, but the freshman was able to work out of a jam without any damage done. Wood led off the bottom of the inning and crushed a 2-2 pitch that landed just inside the left field foul pole for the walk-off home run.
 
Young was sensational on the mound, tossing a career-high nine innings with two walks against 11 strikeouts, matching his career-high for punch outs. Manes moved to 6-0 after his work in the 10^th.
 
Franklin looks for the series sweep on Sunday (Apr. 23), when the two teams meet in the finale at McDowell Field. First pitch is set for noon.