For most of Wednesday afternoon, Franklin baseball hung right in there on the road against a nationally ranked Millikin team that had allowed just eight runs in its previous six games.

Eventually, though, the No. 23 Big Blue broke through, using a nine-run eighth inning to put away a 13-2 victory.

Franklin (9-5) led 1-0 after five and a half innings before Millikin got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the sixth against Griz hurler Brayton Belcher, who scattered four hits over five scoreless to begin his second career start.

"Belcher gave us a great start, and we were in a great ball game for six innings," Franklin coach Lance Marshall said. "We just needed to compete for all nine innings and didn't get the job done. Time to get ready for HCAC play."

Neither team was able to push a run across until the top of the sixth, when Nic Deering drew a one-out walk for the Grizzlies and scored on a two-out RBI double to right field by Drew Helton.

After the Big Blue plated two in the sixth and two more in the seventh, Franklin tried to rally back in the top of the eighth. Kam Seitz clubbed a solo home run to make it 4-2, and another Helton double and a Noah Loveall walk brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two out, but Millikin was able to escape and then put together a big bottom of the inning to finish it.

Helton and Nolan McLane each had two of the Grizzlies' five hits.

Franklin begins conference play this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders, traveling to Hanover for a pair on Saturday and hosting Mount St. Joseph on Sunday afternoon. Both twinbills are slated to begin at noon.