Center Grove baseball tops Franklin

<p>After Franklin sophomore Max Clark hit a solo bomb to get his team back within a run at 3-2 on Friday evening, Center Grove coach Keith Hatfield could feel the momentum shifting away from his team.</p><p>The Class 4A No. 3 Trojans wasted little time in getting it back, scoring three runs in the top of the sixth to steer their way to a 6-2 road win.</p><p>&quot;It was a big answer for us,&quot; Hatfield said. &quot;I think that inning really controlled the game for us.&quot;</p><p>Matthew Sauter opened up the pivotal sixth with a base hit and moved to third on a double by Collin Taylor. After a Noah Coy sacrifice fly brought in Sauter, Mitchell Evans came through with a single — and Taylor was awarded home plate after an interference call at third base. </p><p>Sam Griffith singled to put runners at the corners for Garrison Barile, who accounted for the final run with an RBI fielder’s choice that scored Evans.</p><p>Franklin (17-7) tried to stage a rally against reliever Zach Ferguson in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases on singles by Brodie Rinehold and Max Clark and a two-out walk to Grant Roberts. Ferguson, though, put out the flames by striking out Nolan Netter to end it.</p><p>After Trojan starter Caden Cornett traded zeroes with Grizzly Cub hurler Jackson Henry through the first three innings, Center Grove (21-3) took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. A bases-loaded walk to Sauter pushed Owen Guilfoy across, and then Caden Curry scored on a sac fly from Taylor.</p><p>Henry got Franklin back within one when he doubled to bring Netter home in the bottom of the inning, but the Trojans rebuilt the two-run advantage when Evans scored on an error in the top of the fifth.</p><p>Clark’s home run, his sixth of the season, provided a lift to the sizeable Grizzly Cub crowd, but Center Grove was able to get back on course with that three-run sixth.</p><p>The teams began the evening by completing the county tournament championship game that was cut short by rain last month. Center Grove needed just a few minutes to finish off a 12-2 victory in that game, reclaiming the title for the first time since 2016.</p><p>Center Grove came into the day holding an 11-1 lead through three innings and tacked on another run in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Sam Griffith. Franklin got a one-out solo homer from Beau Baker in the bottom of the fifth but couldn’t score again to extend the game against Trojan reliever Charlie Bemis.</p><p>Hatfield lamented the fact that the tourney game played out as it did with a five-week intermission.</p><p>&quot;(Franklin) didn’t have their normal energy,&quot; he said. &quot;We have kind of fake energy. … I wish we could have played it straight up on a day and not just two innings finishing that, because they’re a good team. They’re going to make us better when we play them.&quot;</p><p>The two county rivals could see one another a fourth time in the sectional later this month — and while Center Grove has taken all three meetings between the teams this spring, Franklin coach Ryan Feyerabend certainly wouldn’t shy away from another one.</p><p>&quot;We love it,&quot; he said. &quot;I’d play them every Friday night if we could. Great crowd, great environment … just a few minor mistakes that we usually don’t make that cost us.&quot;</p>