After a tough first two games, Panther baseball ended the week on a high note.
On April 18, Franklin kicked off a busy four-day stretch, including a Mountain Seven series with Smoky Mountain and a meeting with A.C. Reynolds. After giving up 24 runs in the first two games, Franklin shut Smoky out in a 10-0 win, ending the week in third place in the conference at 6-4.
Tuesday evening, the Panthers traveled to Western Carolina University for a “neutral site” game with the Smoky Mountain Mustangs. There, both offenses shot out of the gate, with Smoky ending the first inning up 6-4. In the second, Franklin scored again to halve Smoky’s lead, but allowed eight more runs in the bottom of the inning. With Smoky up 14-5, both defenses tightened up, allowing zero runs through the next four innings. In the the seventh, Franklin’s hitters came alive for a six-run frame, but were unable to bridge the gap and fell 11-14.
Five Panthers pitched in the contest, led by two scoreless innings apiece by juniors Malachi Hayes and Ryan Raby. Senior catcher Davis Anders went 3 for 5 with a double and four RBIs.
“We came out and we hit it, and then we just [messed around],” said Greenwood. “It was a big stage for a lot of these guys being on that field. That’s a huge game.”
After losing Tuesday’s wild game with Smoky, the next night the Panthers returned to McConnell Field for a non-conference game with A.C. Reynolds. There, Franklin’s defense struggled again early, as a talented Rockets offense played six runs in the second. In the bottom of the inning, the Panthers answered with a run of their own, but did not score again en route to a 10-1 defeat.
On Friday, April 21, the team returned to McConnell Field for a temperate but windy rematch with Smoky. After scheduling both games in the series to be played at Western, Franklin had elected to play Game 2 at home.
“I knew we were gonna get a big crowd for this game, and tonight was a must-win,” said Greenwood of changing venues. “We’d already paid for it, but the heck with the money. We got a refund, but even if we didn’t we were still gonna play it here in front of our fans. They’re great fans – they were scattered everywhere tonight, and our guys fed off that.”
In front of the home crowd, Franklin wasted little time, as sophomore center fielder Tyler Williams led off the first with a triple and came home on a single by junior shortstop Ian Knepp. Knepp then stole second, moved to third on a single by Hayes and came home on a single by senior right fielder Caleb Cloer. With men on first and third, Smoky hit freshman left fielder Addix Sutton with a pitch, loading the bases for a two-run single by Raby.
Up 4-0, Franklin returned to the top of their lineup in the second, where Williams led off the inning with a base on balls. After stealing second and moving to third on a throwing error, Williams came home on a double from Anders. After a single from Hayes and a 3-2 walk from Cloer loaded the bases, Anders scored on a single by Sutton to put his team up 6-0.
Following a 1-2-3 top of the third by Panther junior Josiah Hursey, Smoky’s pitcher struggled again in the bottom of the inning, hitting junior Jayden Rogers with a pitch and moving him to third on a pair of wild pitches. Rogers scored on an impressive double by Williams, in which the sophomore showed rare speed to beat a tight throw at second.
After moving to third on another wild pitch, Williams scored on a first-pitch single by Anders, giving Franklin a commanding 8-0 lead. Having seemingly been reluctant to change pitchers to that point, Smoky finally moved senior infielder Dev Hari to the mound, who struck out the last Panther batter.
Following an inning-ending double play in the fourth and another 1-2-3 frame from Hursey in the fifth, Franklin’s offense heated up again in the bottom of the inning. After smacking a leadoff single and stealing second, Rogers came home on a Knepp double just inside the third base line. On the next at-bat, Smoky couldn’t reel in a deep fly ball from Anders, allowing Knepp to score the Panthers’ tenth run of the game. Up 10-0 after five full innings, Franklin earned the win by way of the 10-run “mercy rule”.
Hursey was brilliant on the mound for Franklin, tossing five innings of no-hit, five-strikeout ball. At the plate, Williams went 2 for 3 with a double, a triple and three runs scored, while Anders went 2 for 3 with the second-inning double and two RBIs.
“I’m just glad that they had a little fight left in them,” said Greenwood of the blowout win. “We didn’t have it Tuesday, and we didn’t have it on Wednesday either. … Joe was pretty pumped up about today, and threw a no-hitter. He threw the ball great, and we hit it. They’ve put in some time in the last couple days getting ready for it, and we hit it like we’ve been working on hitting it. It all worked out, thank goodness, and it was a big win all the way around individually for some of these guys, but for this team. Huge win moving into next week, so that helps us stay up there in the top two or three spots in the conference.”