Tenacious Franklin beats Fenwick 8-6

Reliever Cody Blackford helps Wildcats advance to district final rematch with Springfield Kenton Ridge

SPRINGBORO — The Franklin High School baseball team had to come from behind twice before holding on for an 8-6 win over Fenwick on Thursday, May 20, in a Division II sectional final at Springboro.

The Wildcats (12-14) got a strong pitching effort in relief from Cody Blackford, who came on with one out to end a Falcons scoring flurry in the top of the fourth, leaving two runners stranded.

Franklin then brought out their bats in the bottom half by collecting five straight singles to begin the frame. Jordan Pergrem, Dalton Davis and Spencer Matthews each singled to load the bases. Nate Hunt singled in the Wildcats first run and then Blackford laid down a squeeze bunt to perfection, plating Davis. Austin Robinson’s sacrifice grounder brought in the third run and a wild pitch scored the tying run.

Fenwick regained the lead briefly when Tyler Helfferich cracked a two-out double and then scored on a single by Taylor Valentine in the top of the fifth, but another four-run inning in the sixth put Franklin on top to stay.

“Perseverance was the key today,” Franklin coach Matt Kinser said. “We didn’t make a lot of plays, but we never gave up.

“I just told the kids when we were down early that four runs isn’t going to beat us today,” he continued. “We battled and held to that.”

The Falcons (10-17) didn’t make it easy for Blackford, however, by threatening in the top of the seventh. Jamie Vaughn worked himself to a lead-off walk, then went to third on a one-out single by Evan Dearwester. A two-out single by Valentine scored Vaughn and then Zack Hart walked to load the bases. But Blackford was able to get the final out on three pitches to seal the win.

“I knew I had to come in and get it done,” Blackford said. “I really wasn’t nervous. I knew that one run wasn’t going to hurt us, so I just had to focus on the batter.

“This win feels great,” he continued. “I’m glad we’ve turned it on at the right time.”

Fenwick’s first season under new coach Bob Sherlock was a promising one, the coach said.

“I’m as proud as I can be of these guys,” Sherlock said. “They have played this hard all year and coming in with a new system with a lot of learning to do, it all finally clicked about two-thirds of the way into the season.

“We worked our way out of some jams, but just came up a little short today,” he added.

Dearwester and Valentine each had two hits for the Falcons. Franklin, which will play Springfield Kenton Ridge at 11 a.m. Saturday in a rematch of the D-II district final at Mason, was led by Pergrem’s two hits and two RBIs, as well as a pair of hits and an RBI by Hunt.