Franklin hands Taunton baseball their first loss in Division I title game rematch

TAUNTON— In the battle for Hockomock Kelley-Rex baseball supremacy, the early advantage goes to Franklin.

Taunton (3-1) suffered their first loss of the season Wednesday at the hands of league rivals Franklin in a close 3-2 contest, their first meeting since the Tigers topped the Panthers for the Division I championship last June.

“It was a really good game," Taunton coach Blair Bourque said. "We had another pitchers’ duel and I think the teams both played pretty well. (Franklin’s) a really competitive team, we knew that going in and we knew we had to be at our best. We made a couple of self-inflicted wounds that they capitalized on so we’ve just got to make sure moving forward that we eliminate those unenforced errors and tighten up our defense a bit."

As for the Panthers, coach Zach Brown was proud of his team's efforts and for focusing on the present rather than trying to avenge their title loss.

"I was just really proud of our guys," Brown said. "I feel like we did a good job playing inspired baseball but not playing emotional baseball. I didn’t want our guys coming out here trying to win a state championship game from last year. Last year is over and this year there’s different teams, a different journey and we have a lot of work to do."

Austin Campbell earned the win for Franklin, going six innings giving up two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out nine. Jase Lyons closed out the game, walking one of the four batters he faced in a shutout inning to seal the deal for the visitors.

"(Campbell) really did a great job attacking hitters," Brown said. "At times, he had command of all three of his pitches and at other times he just found a way to miss barrels. It wasn’t always perfect, we could’ve helped him out a bit in different moments during the game, but at the end of the day he just did a great job of pitching to poise, pitching to contact and keeping a really good lineup off-balance."

As for the Tigers, Shawn Cali took the loss but put in a solid performance, going all seven innings giving up nine hits and one earned run while also recording a strikeout.

"Shawn pitched fantastic," Bourque said. "He did everything we asked him to do making sure he’s pitching to contact. They hit a couple of balls hard, but all in all, he was phenomenal on the mound and that’s what you want out of our ace. We just need to make sure that we’re better behind him."

At the plate, Lyons led the way for the Panthers going three-for-four with a pair of RBIs while Ben Jarosz went one-for-three with an RBI and Ethan DePaolo went one-for-three with a run. For the Tigers, Ryan MacDougall led the way going one-for-four with two RBIs while Dwayne Burgo went one-for-three with a run and Brayden Cali went one-for-four with a run.

Franklin struck first in the top of the first as on a potential double play to end the inning, a throwing error by second baseman Brayden Cali put Eisig Chin on base, which was followed by back-to-back singles from Henry DiGiorgio and Ben Jarosz, the latter driving Chin in to make it 1-0.

The Panthers expanded their lead an inning later as Ethan DePaolo singled and Ryan Gerety got on via a fielder's choice before both came home on a two run double by Lyons to deep right field to make it 3-0.

"I think any time you can play with a lead it can apply a little bit of pressure to the opposing team and loosen you up a little bit (and) I felt like that might’ve been the case today," Brown said. "This is a tough place to play. You come here and they’re a good team, so if we’re just stacking zeros then it becomes harder to get that one hit to break through where you’re able to get one early and then scrape a couple more, I feel like it kind of takes that pressure off."

After two more scoreless innings, Taunton was able to break through and respond in the bottom of the fifth as a leadoff double by Burgo and a single to center by Brayden Cali were turned into a pair of runs via a base-clearing triple by MacDougall to cut the hosts' deficit to 3-2, but the score line would stay that way as MacDougall was left stranded and the defending Hockomock Kelley-Rex winners were able to keep the defending Division I champions at bay and improve to 4-0 on the year.

"We put some good swings on the ball and we capitalized," Bourque said of the fifth inning. "Obviously Ryan, that’s what we expect out of him. If we’re going to do well, he’s got to carry us along with the other seniors, but you can’t just rely on one inning. Our goal is to try and score one run an inning and we didn’t do that today and they were able to jump on Shawn early, so we’ve just got to do a better job of helping him out."

Despite the win, Brown says there were definitely areas Franklin could've done better in, though he was obviously happy with the end result.

"We had chances to extend our lead that we didn’t, so obviously that’s something we’ve got to work on because that will be the difference in close games down the road, but overall I’m just proud of the performance of our guys," Brown said. "I thought that we competed hard as a team."

The rivalry between Taunton and Franklin is one that's bubbled up over the past two seasons as both programs have gone head-to-head not just for the title of best team in the league, but also best team in the state. In their past four contests, including Wednesday, the Tigers and Panthers have alternated wins, with Taunton taking both their first meeting at home last year and the Division I championship game while the Panthers won the return contest at Franklin and the away contest this season.

For both coaches, the competition their teams bring out for each other can't be understated, nor can their respect for each other.

"I love it," Bourque said. "These are the games that you look forward to playing and the only problem I have as a coach is I can’t play. I have a lot of respect for Franklin and Coach Brown. The players are awesome, the coaching is awesome. You get up for these games and it’s exciting. You definitely enjoy these moments. Not that any other game is different, but this one is a little extra special obviously having played them in the championship game last year. It’s two really competitive programs that know each other pretty well and it’s always a battle."

"The respect I have for Coach Bourque is through the roof and I think he knows how much I respect what he’s done and what he’s built here," Brown said. "You know every time you come and play Taunton that they’re going to be well-coached, they’re going to play as hard as anybody and they’re going to make you earn everything, so I have a lot of respect for this program and they do it with class. We’re playing in big games and both teams are highly competitive and there’s never any of the other stuff, it’s just hard between the lines and it’s great high school baseball and it usually comes down to one run one way or the other."

Taunton will now look to bounce back Friday as they travel to Mansfield (2-3) for their first road game of the season. With the Hornets giving them a fight last year, and the game being the Tigers' first this season on grass and dirt as opposed to the familiar turf of the Buck Mahoney Baseball Complex, Bourque knows there's work for hsi team to do.

"Mansfield’s a really good team, so we know that we’ve got to bring our A-game," Bourque said. "You’re only as good as your starting pitcher and there’s not too many pitchers that are better than Jack (Cali), so I think we’re in pretty good shape. We just have to make sure we have quality at bats, play sound defense and  eliminate the unforced errors."

As for Franklin, they also return to action Friday as they play host to Sharon (0-4).

"We’re just going to refocus," Brown said. "We have a really important workout tomorrow and then we have one more game remaining this week that’s going to take all of our attention, so we’re going to go back and refocus and just try to win the next day."

Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Franklin baseball tops Taunton in latest rivalry showdown