FRANKLIN – John P. McDowell Field played host to the final Franklin College baseball games of the season on Saturday (May 4) afternoon, with the Grizzlies hosting the Bluffton Beavers.
Franklin (18-20, 7-13 HCAC) fell in both games to the Beavers (12-26, 7-13 HCAC) by scores of 9-4 in game one and 9-5 in game two.
Game One: Bluffton 9 – Franklin 4
Tysen Lipscomb got Franklin on the board in the third inning with a three-run home run for his ninth long ball of the year.
Colby Reed capped the scoring with a sixth inning sac fly, but Franklin struggled to take advantage of a 12-hit game, stranding eight runners and striking out 11 times.
Adam Taylor went 3-for-4 at the plate with
AJ Sanders,
Garrett DeHart and
Anthony Smith all recording two hits.
Matthew Johnson (4-3) got the start and tossed four innings with
Brayden Marrow working five innings of one-hit ball in relief.
Game Two: Bluffton 9 – Franklin 5
The teams traded sac flies in the opening inning, but the Beavers would score four unearned runs over the next two frames and add another in the fourth to make it 6-1. Franklin for three back in the fourth with an RBI ground out from Taylor sandwiched between solo homers from Smith and
Colby Reed. But once again, the bats would struggle to get hits in key spots and the Beavers ran away with the game.
Smith went 2-for-5 at the plate and was the lone Grizzly to finish with multiple hits.
Dylan Sprong (2-5) got the start and struck out five over five innings.
Up Next
Franklin closes out the regular season on Sunday (May 5), with two road games against the Anderson Ravens. First pitch of game one is set for noon.
