Franklin quells Taunton baseball's bats in Hockomock showdown
FRANKLIN — In a battle of the top two teams in the Hockomock League's Kelley-Rex Division Wednesday, Taunton fell on the road to Franklin.
The Panthers avenged their loss to the Tigers earlier in the season with a 7-1 win to secure first place in the division thanks in large part to a strong performance on the mound from pitcher James Kuczmiec, who tossed a complete game giving up five hits and a run while striking out two, as well as a big third inning at the plate which was capped off by a three-run home run by Eisig Chin.
"I think Franklin just wanted it a little more than we did," Taunton coach Blair Bourque said. "They were intense, they were in the game from the first pitch to the last pitch. I think our guys, as hard as they played, I think it’s a matter of mindset, maybe playing a little intimidated or playing too tight. We’ve got to have better at bats, more production out of the bottom of the order and some of our better players need to step up and have got to come up with that big two-out base hit."
Starter Ryan MacDougall was credited with the loss after going three full innings giving up nine hits, seven runs and a walk while reliever Evan Cali pitched the remaining three innings giving up four hits while striking out two. The usually potent Tiger offense was only able to muster one run all game in the second inning when Shawn Cali drove in AJ Lewis.
"Ryan obviously didn’t have his best stuff today and they took advantage and hit a lot of balls hard," Bourque said. "Evan came in and kept us in the ballgame, but again the offense just didn’t have it tonight. Hats off to Franklin’s pitching staff, they did a great job of keeping us off balance and getting a lot of easy outs and easy innings."
Vote: Who is the Taunton Daily Gazette Player of the Week for May 2-7
The Panthers struck early as Jack Marino singled to left in the bottom of the first and tagged up on an Evan Raider lineout to center to give the hosts the 1-0 advantage.
Eager to strike back, Lewis led off the second for Taunton with a single to center, advancing to second on a Colby DeCouta sacrifice bunt and third on a ground out to second by Evan Cali before a walk to Sean Murphy put runners at the corners. Shawn Cali was able to bring Lewis home but then was caught on the force out at second the next at-bat to end the inning even at 1-1.
Franklin led off the second with a Jase Lyons double to deep left center and was brought home two batters later when he tagged up on a Ben Jarosz lineout to right to give the Panthers the 2-1 lead, a lead which they'd never relinquish.
Wednesday's high school scores: Venturelli leads Taunton softball’s offensive outburst
Kuczmiec kept the Tigers at bay in the top of the third, with Dawson Bryce grounding out to second and then the second baseman Marino nabbing a hard line drive by MacDougall for the second out. Braden Sullivan singled to get on base, but Kuczmiec was able to pick him off at first during the next at-bat and get out of the inning, setting up Franklin for their big showing.
Back to back singles from Marino and Chris Goode set the tone for the Panthers in the bottom of the third, and after Raider flew out to right field, had another pair of back-to-back singles courtesy of Hank Digiorgio, who drove in Marino, and Lyons, who drove in Goode, to make it 4-1.
Then Chin stepped up to the plate and sent a three run shot over the scoreboard in right center and into the hillside to make it 7-1 and give the hosts full control of the game.
From there, both offenses were held in check, with Kuczmiec allowing just two hits over his final four innings and Evan Cali allowing four hits, with only one of those runners advancing to second.
"He did a great job," Bourque said of the senior pitcher. "He kept us in the game and threw strikes and that’s what you expect out of a leader."
For Bourque, the final four innings highlighted something he's considered a persistent problem for his team this season.
"We’re just not playing well from behind," Bourque said. "We don’t really have the fight that you need to play in these types of games, so it’s a gut check and we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and try to figure things out really soon because we’re running out of time."
After dropping two out of their last three games, the Tigers are now 12-3 overall and 9-3 in the Hockomock, a full game behind the Panthers in the Kelley-Rex, and with a few days of practice ahead before going to Attleboro on Monday, Bourque said Taunton will look to get back to work and bounce back to finish the regular season strong.
"We don’t have a game until Monday so we’ve got a long couple days ahead," Bourque said. "We need to do some self-reflecting and bring the intensity back at practice and then we’ll see where we’re at next week and see if we can rebound from this."
Stats
Lewis led the way at the plate for the Tigers, going one-for-three with a run while Shawn Cali went one-for-two with an RBI.
For the Panthers, Chin led the way going two-for-three with a run and three RBIs while Lyons went three-for-three with a pair of runs and an RBI, Marino went two-for-four with two runs and Goode went three-for-four with a run.
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 quells Taunton baseball's bats in Hockomock showdown
