<p>Franklin Central pitcher Bailey Buescher had kept the Franklin Community High School baseball team off-balance for six innings.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Grizzly Cubs coach Ryan Feyerabend said he was optimistic.</p>
<p>“I felt we had one good inning in us,” Feyerabend said. “I won’t say he got rattled, but he stepped down just a little bit, and I knew we had a good shot to get runners across.”</p>
<p>The Cubs rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge the Flashes 3-2 Wednesday night in the Class 4A Center Grove Sectional opener.</p>
<p>Franklin (12-10) will play Greenwood (15-10), an 8-0 winner against Martinsville in Tuesday’s late first-round game. The teams will meet in Monday’s semifinals.</p>
<p>Center Grove and Whiteland will meet in second semifinal Monday. The championship game is set for 6 p.m.</p>
<p>Greenwood senior pitcher Reid Werner was masterful with a no-hitter in Tuesday’s second game, striking out nine and not allowing a runner until a walk in the seventh.</p>
<p>Werner, who also had three RBIs, struck out nine.</p>
<p>In the first game, sophomore catcher Alec MacLennan singled to start off Franklin’s rally, and speedy sophomore Jonah Rockey came in as a courtesy runner.</p>
<p>“Jonah is the fastest kid I’ve seen around the base paths,” Feyerabend said.</p>
<p>Sophomore Lucas Bramlett reached on an error, and Rockey scored on junior Jerris Lee’s single. Then with one out, Bramlett slid past the Franklin Central catcher on junior lead-off hitter Stone Peddycord’s grounder.</p>
<p>“Every game this year has looked like this,” Feyerabend said. “We don’t blow people out. We play quality defense and get quality starts and we compete.”</p>
<p>Franklin had just two hits, one a homer by senior pitcher Andrew Hartkorn, before getting two hits in the seventh.</p>
<p>“You have to give credit to their left-hander (Buescher), he was awesome all night,” Feyerabend said. “He had a lot better velocity than we (knew). We knew he had decent off-speed. But with the heat, he had his fastball really working.</p>
<p>“We were a little taken aback the first couple of innings. We stayed at it. We have a handful of seniors who are big in big moments.”</p>
<p>The Flashes (8-13) went ahead 2-1 in the top of the seventh when Austin Guisinger and Eric Rigsby singled and Gusinger scored on Buescher’s sacrifice fly.</p>
<p>Hartkorn, a senior, had pitched the first six innings, giving up seven hits and one run. Austin Frankl pitched the seventh and got the victory.</p>
<p>“Andrew Hartkorn has been lights out for us all year,” Feyerabend said. “Obviously, he makes good pitches and hits home runs. He does it all. He pitches out of jams.”</p>
<p>In the second inning, Franklin Central’s Cole Humphrey doubled to lead off. Noah Weeks followed with a single, but Hartkorn retired the next three batters.</p>
<p>The Flashes also wasted a lead-off double by Humphrey in the sixth inning.</p>
<p>“It’s second nature to me if someone gets on, it’s not a big deal to me. I buckle down and throw strikes,” Hartkorn said. “My defense does the rest of the work.”</p>
<p>Hartkorn hit a home run in the third to give Franklin a 1-0 lead. The Flashes tied it in the fifth</p>
<p>“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Hartkorn said. “It was just me. It was top to bottom.”</p>
<p>Hartkorn pointed out the rally started with the No. 6 hitter.</p>
<p>“They’re younger than the top of the order,” Hartkorn said. “But they stepped up just like we did.”</p>
<p>In the second game, Greenwood took a 1-0 lead on Werner’s sacrifice fly.</p>
<p>The Woodmen scored two in the second inning on Brayton England’s double and two wild pitches. Another run came in an on an error.</p>
<p>Greenwood pushed the lead to 6-0 in the third with the big hit being Lucas Marko’s two-run double.</p>
<p>Werner had a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth.</p>
<p><p style="text-align: left"><strong>Braves cruise in opener</strong></p>
<p>In a game that didn’t end until after 10 p.m., Indian Creek breezed to a 21-0 win against Northwest in Tuesday’s first round of the Class 3A Danville Sectional.The Braves (15-1) will play tournament-host Danville in a semifinal Monday.</p>
