No matter how many runs Indian Creek pushed across early in Tuesday night’s game, Franklin senior Max Clark had faith in his team’s ability to keep pace.
He and the Grizzly Cubs did that and more.
Clark, who went 4 for 4 with a walk, four runs scored and three driven in, hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning as the Grizzly Cubs survived five errors and stormed back from a four-run deficit to defeat the Braves, 13-10, in the opening round of the Johnson County tournament on Tuesday night.
Franklin (1-1) will face Greenwood in a semifinal game on Saturday afternoon at Center Grove.
“You’ve just got to respond on the offensive side,” Clark said of his team’s ability to battle back. “It’s a lot easier for pitchers to stay dialed into the game, and it’s a lot easier for infielders to stay dialed into the game when pitchers are throwing strikes and the offense is getting hits and barrels and keeping us in the game. It was just about keeping the momentum one to one. They would score, we would score; it was just really separating the next inning that mattered.”
The Grizzly Cubs (1-1), who got back into the game with five runs in the fourth inning after falling behind 8-4, took the lead for good when Clark started the fifth by hammering a 1-0 pitch to right field. Blake Smythe made it 11-9 with a one-out RBI single that scored Pryce Rucker.
Franklin tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth when Jackson Henry’s double brought in Landen Basey and Clark. Indian Creek cut it to three when a pinch-hit single from Colt DeHart scored Carter Modlin, but senior lefty Donovan Armstrong, the fifth Grizzly Cub pitcher, recorded the final out to close the door on the three-hours-and-change affair and save it for Brooks McNicholas, who tossed 2 2/3 innings of relief to pick up the win.
The Braves (1-1) jumped on top quickly, as Modlin led off the game by ripping a 2-1 offering over the fence in left field. Franklin tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Clark reached on an infield hit, advanced to third on Jackson Henry’s single to left and jogged home on a wild pitch. Indian Creek hurler Nolan Ankney avoided further damage, striking out Smythe to end the frame with runners on second and third.
Indian Creek didn’t let the game stay deadlocked for long, turning four Franklin errors into three unearned runs in the top of the second. Jagger Bray singled to shallow left, took second on a botched pickoff attempt and third on a wild pitch, then came in on a sacrifice fly by Blayden Mann. Then, with two out and two on, Modlin singled up the middle to drive Talan Steinway in; Arj Lothe followed him home when the ball was bobbled in the outfield.
Once again, though, the Grizzly Cubs had a response in their half of the inning. Back-to-back doubles from Trevor Launonen and Clay Pinnick generated one run, and Pinnick scored from third to make it 4-3 when Clark’s two-out pop to shallow left fell just inside the line for an RBI single.
Not satisfied with a one-run advantage, the Braves extended the lead to 6-3 in the third inning. Steinway landed a bases-loaded single inside the right-field line that scored Bryce Harmon, and Ankney was able to come around from second behind him after the throw back into the infield was mishandled, the fifth Grizzly Cub error of the game. Franklin got one back in the bottom half of the frame; Rucker drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on Nash Netter’s sacrifice fly to center.
Bray made it a 7-4 game in the fourth when he dropped a ball into the gap in left center, just getting it beyond the reach of a diving Clark for a two-out RBI double that plated Brock Bragg. Three batters later, Bray also scored when Steinway drew a bases-loaded walk, one of four issued by Franklin pitchers (along with a hit batsman) in the inning.
Down four heading into the bottom of the fourth, Franklin got back into it with a five-run rally. It all got started with a leadoff walk to Pinnick, who scored on a one-out double up the middle by Clark. Consecutive singles by Henry, Rucker and Beau Baker produced one run, and both Henry and Rucker then came home on a pair of wild pitches. Baker scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk to Lauonen — the ninth hitter of the inning — before Indian Creek reliever Steinway finally recorded the last two outs, the third coming on a strikeout of Basey with the bases still full and Clark on deck.
“Being able to finally get guys across the plate was huge,” Clark said, “and then our defense and pitching really kind of stepped up late even though they struggled in the beginning.”
Indian Creek tied it up in the top of the fifth without a hit; Bryce Turner was hit by a pitch and took advantage of a wild pitch and a passed ball to come all the way back home. The deadlock was short-lived, though, as Clark led off the bottom of the frame with his solo bomb.
“I was actually looking for it up and in,” Clark said, “and (Steinway) missed a little too middle. It was just one of those you have to hit 400 feet, so I’m glad I did.”
