KOKOMO, Ind. – Thanks to ninth inning heroics from freshman
Luke Willmann, the Franklin baseball team is moving in to the winner's bracket of the 2023 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Baseball Tournament.
Willmann's one-out double in the bottom of the ninth scored
Dyllan Redmon from first base to push the top-seeded Grizzlies (31-10) past sixth-seeded Manchester (22-19) 7-6. The win moves Franklin into a matchup of tournament unbeatens on Friday (May 12), where they will face either #2 seed Transylvania or #4 seed Rose-Hulman.
The Spartans got the scoring started with a run in the first but
Matt Earley erased the deficit in the bottom of the second with a lead-off solo home run. Later in the inning,
AJ Sanders put the Grizzlies in front with a two-out, two-run double to make it 3-1. One inning later the Grizzlies doubled their lead with an RBI double from
Jonathon LaGuire-Cruz and a bunt single from Redmon to stretch the lead to 5-1.
Colby Reed stretched the Franklin lead to 6-1 with a sac fly in the fifth but the Spartans began their charge back in the top of the sixth with a three-run frame. Manchester completed the comeback with a run in the eighth and another in the ninth to put the pressure back on Franklin in the bottom of the ninth.
Redmon laced a one-out single into center field to bring Willmann to the plate, and the reigning HCAC Hitter of the Week ripped a 1-1 pitch into the right center field gap and Redmon ended the game with an elusive head-first slide just ahead of the tag to end the game.
Willmann, Redmon, LaGuire-Cruz,
Noah Wood and
Tysen Lipscomb had two hits each with Willmann and Wood scoring twice for the Franklin offense.
Matthew Johnson got the start and fanned six over six innings of work that saw him allow one earned run.
Sam Peck worked a perfect inning in relief and
Maddox Manes (7-0) tossed the final two innings of relief to earn the win.
The Grizzlies will be back in action against either the Pioneers or Engineers on Saturday with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m.
