Much remains undetermined in this year’s Johnson County Baseball Tournament, but Franklin has made sure of one thing — there will be a new champion.
The Grizzly Cubs jumped on Whiteland early, taking advantage of Warriors miscues and getting some timely hits on the way to an 8-1 home victory Monday.
Franklin (2-1) will face Edinburgh in a semifinal game Saturday at Center Grove.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryGrizzly Cubs coach Ryan Feyerabend said he encouraged his players to be more aggressive at the plate than they had been in a weekend doubleheader, and that approach paid off.
“We try and preach to be really aggressive,” he said. “We played on Saturday at Columbus North, and they took too many fastballs. It’s like, ‘Guys, you’ve got good swings; quit being so selective.’”
Whiteland (1-2) drew first blood on a bases-loaded bloop single by Nick Carrizales with one out in the top of the first, but the Grizzly Cubs avoided further damage when Blake Dicken threw Evan Hillman out at the plate and Tyce Miller struck out Tyler Wick.
The missed opportunity proved costlier when Franklin picked up three runs in the bottom of the frame. Jared Ross drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the score, and two more runs came in on an error to give the Grizzly Cubs a 3-1 edge on Warriors starter Luke Helton.
“(Helton’s) not easy,” said Franklin catcher Alec MacLennan, who went 3 for 4 with a double and a triple and scored three runs. “He throws hard, good off-speed and everything …but we came out early, got on top of it and put up some runs, so that helped a lot.
MacLennan led off the third with a triple and came home on a single to right by Dicken to make it a three-run game, and the Grizzly Cubs broke it open with four more in the fifth. Luke Torrance knocked in two of those with a double, stretching the Franklin lead to 8-1.
That was more than enough for senior Branson Pugh, who came on in relief with two on and nobody out in the third inning and registered the final 15 outs for the Grizzly Cubs. He allowed three hits in the fifth inning but managed to wriggle free without allowing a run.
Carrizales had two hits for Whiteland, which left 10 runners on base and had two thrown out at the plate. Helton, Chase Bennett and Alexander Reed each reached base three times in the loss.
Dicken was 2 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored for the Grizzly Cubs.
Franklin can’t look ahead to its semifinal matchup just yet — it returns to action Thursday against Franklin Central.
