FRANKLIN – The Franklin College baseball team faced one more tune-up ahead of conference play, taking on the Alma Scots in a Monday (Mar. 17) afternoon double-header.
The Grizzlies (8-5) walked away with two wins on the day, rolling to a 13-4 victory in game one before holding on for a 6-5 win in the second game.
Game One: Franklin 13 – Alma 4
The Grizzlies jumped on the Scots early and often, plating six runs in the first three innings.
Garrett DeHart opened the scoring with a sac fly in the first and the Grizzlies got two unearned runs in the second to stretch the lead to three.
Andrew Wallace and
Ian Nuckles added RBI singles in the third and the Grizzlies were off to the races.
Franklin added three more runs in the sixth and put up a four-spot in the eighth to put the game well out of reach.
Sophomore
Luke Harmon (1-1) was brilliant over six innings of work, giving up two earned runs on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts in his longest outing of the year.
Brayton Belcher,
Will Butts and
Damian Tillie each logged an inning in relief.
Luke Willmann drove in a team-high three runs while Nuckles and
Riddick Bolton knocked in two runs each. Nuckles, Wallace and
Dyllan Redmon all had two hits in the game.
Game Two: Franklin 6 – Alma 5
The Scots put two runs across in the second but Franklin answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double from
Daniel Cross and a bases loaded walk draw by DeHart to tie the game. Down by a run in the fourth, DeHart put the Grizzlies in front for the first time with a two-run blast to give the Grizzlies a 4-3 lead.
Alma got one run in the fifth and took the lead with another in the seventh, but Willmann restored Franklin's one-run lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame, setting up a tense final two innings.
Mason Campbell worked out of a jam in each of the final two innings, retiring the final two batters with two runners in scoring position in the ninth for his fourth save of the year.
Nuckles went 2-for-4 at the dish for his third straight multi-hit game. DeHart knocked in three in the game and six different players scored runs for the Griz.
Brayden Marrow got the start and allowed two earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts over five innings.
Gavin Leavy (1-0) picked up the first win of his college career with one inning of work out of the bullpen.
Up Next
Franklin gets conference play underway on Saturday (Mar. 22) afternoon, hosting defending league champion Hanover for two games at McDowell Field. First pitch of game one is set for noon.
