Franklin’s baseball team had been involved in some less-than-tidy games during the first few days of April, committing 13 errors in its first four contests — nine of those in two days against Plainfield.
The Grizzly Cubs definitely cleaned things up on Saturday, playing error-free defense to back a strong pitching performance from Drew Doty and cruising to an 11-1 triumph over Indian Creek in a six-inning Johnson County tournament semifinal at Center Grove.
The tournament title will be decided during Franklin’s previously scheduled game with the host Trojans on May 13.
“We had a good practice yesterday going over some defensive things, and it showed today,” Franklin coach Ryan Feyerabend said.
Franklin (3-2) got all the scoring it needed in the bottom of the first inning, loading the bases when Max Clark singled, Logan Devenport got hit by a pitch and Nolan Netter walked and then clearing them with two-out, two-run base hits from Jackson Henry and Pryce Rucker.
Meanwhile, Doty was in control almost throughout for the Grizzly Cubs, scattering just five hits while fanning five and not walking anyone.
Doty also benefited from sterling defense, most notably third baseman Xavier Brown’s run-saving snag of a hard liner off the bat of Drew Gavin. The Grizzly Cubs also cut down a pair of Brave baserunners at home plate.
Indian Creek (3-3) had a threat brewing in the second when Jagger Bray led off with a single, stole second and took third on a flyout to right, but a comebacker to the mound then led to Bray getting caught in a rundown and thrown out at the plate, and Doty was able to escape the inning unharmed.
The Braves lost another run at home in the sixth, when Brock Bragg reached on a ground-rule double but got gunned down by left fielder Devenport when trying to score on a Carter Modlin single.
“We’ve got a great defense, infield and outfield,” Doty said. “Thursday was rough; we worked a lot on it yesterday, so I was confident coming out, and they made some good plays.”
The visitors did avoid the shutout shortly thereafter when Modlin scored on an RBI single by Sam Boyd, but that was about Indian Creek’s sole consolation on the afternoon.
“They got some timely hits when they needed it,” Braves coach Steve Mirizzi said. “That first inning we had two outs, and they scored all four of those runs with two outs; it kind of took the wind out of our sails there early on.”
The fifth inning saw Franklin pick up three insurance runs. Clark walked, stole second and scored on a Devenport single. Netter drove in Devenport with a base hit, advanced to third on a botched pickoff and then came home on a Doty sacrifice fly.
After Landen Basey and Jace Fowler both scored on an Indian Creek throwing error in the bottom of the sixth, the Grizzly Cubs walked it off on consecutive RBI hits — a double by Netter and a single to left by Doty.
Devenport, Netter and Rucker each had two of Franklin’s 10 hits.
