It’s often said that getting to the top is a lot easier than staying there. Franklin College’s baseball and softball teams are up for the challenge.
After historic seasons a year ago, both Grizzlies squads will be out to deliver strong encore performances when their seasons begin this weekend.
The baseball team begins the 2019 campaign ranked among the nation’s top 25 Division III teams in both the ABCA/D3Baseball.com and Collegiate Baseball preseason polls after a 39-5 campaign that ended with a loss to eventual national champion Texas-Tyler in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Head coach Lance Marshall is hopeful that his squad can build off of last year’s experience.
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"The guys grew in the fact that they realize they can play at that level and compete at that level," he said. "Sometimes you have to be able to see it before you’re ready to really complete at your best. So hopefully we can work hard, earn another opportunity and go further."
Plenty of key players from last year’s run are back to lead the charge. Six All-HCAC first-teamers return for a lineup that led the nation in several offensive categories, including batting average (.351), home runs (67), on-base percentage (.460), slugging percentage (.550) and runs per game (10.4).
Junior outfielder Ryan Bixler, whose 15 homers ranked second in the country behind graduated teammate Frank Podkul’s 16, should again be one of the most feared hitters in Division III. Should opposing pitchers try to work around Bixler, though, they’ll still have to deal with junior designated hitter Nick Wright (.350, 10 HR, 50 RBI), junior outfielder Jarrod Smith (.429), junior infielder Brandt Pawley (.390) and junior catcher Alex Mis (.386), among others.
Jordan Clark, a senior who served primarily as the team’s closer last season, figures to headline the starting pitching rotation.
The Grizzlies are in Jacksonville, Illinois this weekend for Saturday games against Elmhurst and MacMurray as well as a Sunday tilt with Aurora, which also qualified for the NCAA tourney in 2018.
"We’re going to find out real quickly how good we are," Marshall said of his team’s daunting nonconference schedule.
Also hitting the road this weekend is the Franklin softball team, which is coming off of a 30-win season that ended with the program’s first HCAC tournament title and an NCAA appearance.
The Grizzlies play doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday in Maryville, Tennessee, taking on Birmingham Southern and the host Scots.
While top pitcher Olivia Paszek has graduated, plenty of talent remains for head coach Brad Jones. Junior Kayla Selzer, a solid No. 2 last spring, gives Franklin College at least one experienced hurler going into the season.
The lineup will be spearheaded by Whiteland grad Monica Collins, a senior outfielder who batted a team-high .417 and earned HCAC tournament MVP honors. Senior Justice Carmichael (.341, 14 doubles) and sophomore Lexi Gaffney (.388), a Center Grove alumnae join Collins in what might be the best outfield in the conference.
HCAC softball coaches picked the Grizzlies to finish third in the conference this year.
The baseball team was the league’s preseason No. 1 — but a repeat conference title is but one goal on a long list for Franklin, which would like to make a deep NCAA run and believes it has the goods to do compete for a national championship.
"I think the possibilities are limitless," Marshall said. "I think we’ve got the ability to do it; sometimes you just have to be playing your best baseball at the right time of year. We’d like to make sure we’re peaking at the right time, and we continue to work toward that."
That work officially begins Saturday.
