Baseball: Timely Hitting, Solid Defense Propel Franklin Past Western Tech

A couple weeks back, Franklin head coach Tim Gordon stressed the importance of timely hitting.

Wednesday afternoon against Western Tech, he certainly got it.

The Indians tallied four two-out runs to set the tone in the top of the first and slammed the door shut by plating five more with two away in the seventh inning  en route to an 11-3 “road win”—at home. (The game was set to be played at Western Tech but poor field conditions moves the game to Franklin.)

Undoubtedly the biggest two-out swing for Franklin (4-1) came during that top of the first.

After Wolverines’ starter Cory Piette opened the game by loading the bases with two walks and a hit batter, the lefty rebounded with back-to-back strikeouts of Andy Thompson and Josh Sherer (Franklin’s four and five hitters) and appeared poised to escape the jam.

However, Dustin Halle wasn’t about to let that happen.

The sophomore third baseman laced a double to the right-centerfield gap that cleared the bases and ended up scoring himself after a pair of wild pitches.

Instead of coming away with nothing to show for three base runners to start the game, Franklin jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

“One pivotal spot in the game that could have went our way. It was a big time double,” Western Tech coach Brad Hoskin said of Halle’s two-out swat.  “A little change in that inning and we would have had a good game going. It got away from us.”

Franklin’s coach agreed whole heartedly.

“First thing I said to the guys…Dustin’s three-RBI double set the tone for the whole game,” Gordon said.  “They are chasing us. If he doesn’t get that hit, it’s a whole different ball game.”  

Franklin’s second two-out binge began in the top of the seventh when the Indians reeled off three straight two-out hits. Ryan Silcott started the parade with a two-run single, Brad Dioguardo plated two more with a bloop double down the left-field line and Joey Dorsey lashed a single over first base to score Dioguardo. 

The sequence of clutch hitting turned what was a contested 6-2 ball game into an 11-3 desperation bottom of the seventh for the Wolverines.  Prior to the seventh, reliever Desean Rabb had held the Indians to just two hits over four scoreless innings and finished with six total strikeouts.

Hitting-wise, Western Tech (0-3) struggled to make solid contact off of lefty hurler Mike Pavsner and if it did, Franklin stepped up defensively to make the play. The Indians didn’t register an error until the final inning and a couple of the more dazzling plays included Dorsey in left-field throwing a laser beam to second to double off a runner and Halle reaching over the third base fence to snag a foul ball.

Pavsner allowed two runs while scattering six hits over six innings pitched.

“If you are able as a pitcher to throw strikes and your defense makes plays, it makes for a heck of a ball game,” Pavsner said. “That’s all you’re supposed to do as a pitcher, come in and throw strikes.”

The Wolverines brought home their first run of the game when Derek Hadel (3 for 3) singled up the middle to plate Jason Marino in the bottom of the second, but didn’t score again until the sixth inning on a Tyler Smith RBI single to make the score 6-2.

However, Franklin answered immediately with its five-run seventh to stifle any hopes of a comeback.

BOX SCORE

Franklin 11, Western Tech 3

F 410 001 5----11 11 1

W010 001 1----3 6 3

Pitching

Franklin                IP            R             H             BB           K

Pavsner                6.0          2              2              2              3

Dorsey                  1.0          1              0              1              1

Western Tech

Piette                    2.0          2              5              5              3

Rabb                      5.0          7              6              1              6

Hitting

RBI: (F) Halle 3, Dioguardo 3, Silcott 2, Thompson, Dorsey.

        (W) Hadel, Smith.

2B: (F) Halle, Dioguardo.

       (W) Marino.

SB: (F) Silcott, Dorsey, Sherer, Goodman.

       (W) Pease 2, Camonayan.