WEST ROXBURY – Coming in with an undefeated mark, the Franklin baseball team looked just as advertised against nonleague opponent Catholic Memorial on the road Wednesday afternoon.
Using a gem of an outing from senior captain Alfred Mucciarone, along with some timely hits from the middle of the lineup, the Panthers downed the Knights, 9-2.
“It all starts on the hill,” said Franklin coach Zach Brown. “A really good effort again from Alfred and he set a good tone for us. He left a couple pitches up in that first inning and CM was able to scrape one across.”
Mucciarone finished with six strong innings while striking out 11, including fanning the side in the fourth on just 10 pitches. He allowed just one run on four hits, with two of those hits coming in the first inning.
“After the first, I was kind of rolling,” Mucciarone said. “I was trying to hit my spots and pound the strike zone down and away.”
Franklin (6-0) was able to capitalize on a pair of walks in the first inning as senior catcher Tyler Bellan stepped into the box with two down in the first. He swung at the first pitch and drilled it over the center field wall for a three-run homer to put the Panthers up 3-0.
Catholic Memorial (1-4) got a run back in the bottom of the first. With runners on the corners, sophomore Sean Davock took off from first with one down. The throw went into second for the out as Marshall Kehlhem stole the plate to make it a 3-1 deficit after one.
“I think playing with a lead kind of relaxes the defense and allows the pitcher to just go out and attack the zone,” Brown said about playing with the early lead.
After that, the Knights kept the Panthers at bay as they stranded three more runners over the second and third.
In the fourth, the patience paid off as Franklin loaded the bases with one down, with all three reaching on ball four, and three-hole hitter Henry DiGiorgio (2-for-4, two RBI, two runs) due up. The junior squarely hit the ball off of Catholic Memorial starter Josh Wieners’ right leg to score two and make it a 5-1 contest. Wieners was able to stay in the game, but senior third baseman Ben Jarosz was able to hit the ball through a drawn-in infield to net another pair of runs as the Panthers led 7-1.
“Offensively, our guys worked hard and made it tough them,” Brown said. “They grinded out at bats and did a good job.”
“I’m really proud of the boys at the bottom of the order as they are definitely working a lot harder in practice,” said Mucciarone. “The work has paid off.”
After that, Wieners was pulled and Franklin tacked on one more run as Jarosz scored on a low throw from second that made it 8-1 with two down in the frame.
In the seventh, Jarosz got his third RBI with a sacrifice fly to right to score senior Koen Bonetti from third.
For Catholic Memorial, the hosts were able to scratch a run across in the seventh as Luke Schell came in on a throw to first from third. Senior Zach Ramaswamy struck out Liam McKinney two batters later with the bases loaded to secure the victory.
