Panther baseball has begun its season with a bang.
After months of offseason workouts, on the week of Feb. 24 they opened their spring campaign, hosting Murphy at McConnell Field and traveling to Weaverville to face North Buncombe. With a thrilling walk-off win over Murphy, Jared Greenwood’s team hit the ground running.
Sophomore Anderson Terrell took the mound as Franklin’s opening day starter, holding the Bulldogs scoreless in the first. Murphy’s starter didn’t enjoy the same success, walking Franklin’s first five batters. From there Gunner McConnell, Isaiah Dees and Payton King drove their teammates in, smacking RBI hits to take an 8-0 lead.
Murphy responded to the first-inning outburst, scoring two runs apiece in the second and third to cut the Panther lead in half. Franklin plated two more runs in the bottom of the inning with two hit batsmen, a single, an error, a walk and a sacrifice fly.
The Bulldog offense stayed hot in the fourth, scoring six more runs to tie the game at 10. Once again Franklin answered in the bottom of the inning, retaking the lead 14-10 with four singles, a walk, a sacrifice fly and an Addix Sutton double. They tacked on another run in the fifth with two singles, a walk and a first-pitch double from McConnell.
Murphy refused to go quietly in the sixth, scoring six more runs to take their first lead of the game, 16-15. The game slowed down for the next two half-innings, with Franklin entering the bottom of the seventh still down by one.
The Panthers heated back up in the final frame, leading off with a single from Cayson McAllister, a double from Paxton Sutton and a walk from McConnell. With the bases loaded Murphy hit Hunter Lowe with a pitch, tying the game at 16 with just one out. With the bases still loaded Damion Bowles launched a ball to the outfield, allowing Sutton to tag up from third for a walk-off sacrifice fly.
Following their wild, barn-burning win over Murphy, on Feb. 28 the Panthers traveled to North Buncombe, where they fell to the Black Hawks 5-4. The Press will report further on that game’s result in next week’s edition.