Panther baseball is back on track.
After a tough series with North Henderson the previous week, over Spring Break the young Franklin team remained hard at work, playing back-to-back games with Smoky Mountain and Hayesville. With two blowout wins including one in the Mountain Seven Conference, Jared Greenwood’s squad improved their record to 5-7.
On Tuesday, April 1, the Panthers traveled to Sylva for Game 1 of their Mountain Seven series with Smoky. There Franklin’s offense shot out of the gate, scoring two runs in the first, three in the second and four in the third. Franklin’s tear was led by sophomore Will Rauers, who pitched two quick innings and posted an RBI double and two walks.
Down 9-0, Smoky’s bats woke up in the third, turning a leadoff single, two walks and a fielder’s choice into their first run. Franklin stayed hot in the top of the fourth, plating four more runs off three singles and a Hunter Lowe double.
Up 13-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Franklin nearly triggered the 10-run mercy rule, but Smoky extended the game with a three-run homer. Brock Bradley answered in the top of the sixth however, belting a three-run homer of his own to left center field. Franklin retired three Mustangs in order in the bottom of the inning to win 16-4. The victory was the Panthers’ first in the Mountain Seven, improving their conference record to 1-6.
“Unbelievable,” said Greenwood of his team’s effort. “Spring Break’s always pretty tough, but we had an early lunch at my pond, went fishing, and came out and had a great day of BP [batting practice]. We did all the little things – we had timely hits, we had some big hits, our pitching threw strikes, and it was good to see Will back on the mound. That’s a huge help to us, and we made all the routine plays.”
The next night the Panthers returned to McConnell Field for a nonconference matchup with Hayesville. There Franklin’s offense kept their momentum from the previous night, leading off with singles from Addix Sutton and Anderson Terrell. Rauers and Gunner McConnell cashed in from there, knocking a two-RBI double and an RBI single, respectively. Franklin tacked on another run in the second to make it 4-0.
Hayesville’s bats heated up in the middle innings, scoring one run in the third, two in the fourth and another in the fifth. Franklin maintained a narrow lead at the plate however, getting RBI hits from Terrell and Payton King in the fourth and fifth.
Franklin’s offense exploded in the bottom of the sixth, batting around the order and scoring five more runs off a Lowe double, four singles, a hit batsman and a walk. Hayesville scored again in the seventh, but fell 11-5. While the mood was dampened somewhat by an injury to promising freshman Paxton Sutton, who twisted his ankle on a third-inning slide into second base, Greenwood said the win was much-needed for his team.
“Tonight was a weird one – nonconference game, limited pitching, we’ve still got some guys beat up a little bit,” he said. “They’re having fun and they’re a competitive bunch, but this week we enjoyed the opportunities to move around and fish and do the little things that sometimes we take for granted, and then just come out and play, and play for each other. We’re getting bunts down, we’re moving runners, we’re sacrificing ourselves for the betterment of the team, and then they’re seeing all the fun that’s being had, and it makes a difference. It’s been a super-fun week, and it sets us up great moving forward to the second half of the season.”
In blowout victories over teams with winning records, the Panthers built momentum for a busy week ahead, including Game 2 with Smoky Mountain, a partial doubleheader at Robbinsville (in which they’ll resume their March 13 game which was suspended due to lightning) and Game 1 of their conference series with West Henderson. After a difficult start to the season, the young team seems to be picking up steam.
“Take care of business and you talk about a turn of events to go from 0-6 in conference to what could be 4-6 by the end of next week, and then get back to .500 baseball,” said Greenwood. “They’re starting to figure it out. They’re young kids, they play multiple sports, we’re behind, but now we’re starting to kind of catch up. We’ve got a number of at-bats under our belts and all the experience out here, so it’s starting to click, and we could be scary here moving forward.”