At last Durant’s Franklin gets seven-frame, complete-game win
By Brandon Wright, Features Writer
PLANT CITY – Owen Franklin had been waiting for this moment all season. But with his pitch count rising, it looked like it may be another missed opportunity. With two out in the seventh, Franklin walked Salvadore Jaramillo and the Durant starter sat just a couple pitches away from being yanked.
Third time turned out to be the charm.
Franklin finished off the final batter and locked up his first complete game of the season as visiting Durant defeated Plant City 4-1 Tuesday night.
“I wanted it so badly,” Franklin said.
Franklin, who had twice been denied a shot at the complete game due to the Cougars run-ruling their opponents in five innings, didn’t let this chance slip by.
“I’d been waiting so long,” he said. “I kind of dragged it out in the last inning and I knew it was my last batter. If I didn’t get him that would be it for me.”
Franklin, deftly mixing in a slider and change to complement his fastball, was far from overpowering, fanning just three on the night. But what he lacked in miles per hour on the radar gun, Franklin more than made up in precision control.
“My focus tonight was to work both sides of the plate,” he said. “I feel like (Plant City) struggles with hitting the ball hard the opposite direction, so I wanted to attack both sides of the plate.”
Franklin walked just one, hit another and seemingly worked ahead in the count all night.
“(Franklin) had great command of the plate,” Durant coach Butch Valdes said. “He’s been throwing great games. We knew he was going to throw strikes. That’s been him all year.”
In a game that felt not nearly as close as the score indicated, Durant’s offense did just enough. The Cougars (11-6) had traffic on the bases all night – stranding 10 runners – and left more than one man on base in five of their at bats.
“It should have been (a larger margin of victory),” Valdes said. “It’s good to know we can be in command and still hold them down without being able to get those guys in. It’s something we’ve got to work on.”
Brady Kelley’s one-hopper off the left field fence in the second opened the scoring for Durant and Brody Lissy extended it to 2-0 an inning later with an RBI single.
Then with two runners on the fifth, Caleb Lambert singled to right field. But the ball was misplayed and rolled to the wall allowing both men to come around and score, padding Durant’s lead to 4-0.
All three run-scoring hits came with two outs.
“I feel like we are starting to get into a really good place and we’re starting to hit the ball a lot more than we were earlier in the season,” Franklin said. “It puts us in a good spot considering our district.”
Seven-of-the-nine Cougars in the lineup recorded hits, including doubles from Brantley Hayward and Jackson McClellan. Valdes, however, pointed out some money left on the table.
“We were in control until we had to execute,” Valdes said. “(We didn’t) execute bunting guys over, moving them over, just putting the ball in play with men in scoring position. We struggled. That’s what we’re going to work on tomorrow.”
The Raiders broke through for their lone run in the sixth when Max Cieslo lifted a sacrifice fly to score Drew Cothren. The loss snapped Plant City’s (11-10) two-game winning streak.
Both teams are back in action on Thursday with the Raiders hosting Prestonsburg (Ky.), and Durant welcoming Tampa Bay Tech.
⚾
Durant 4
Plant City 1
D 011|020|0 – |4|8|1
P 000|001|0 – |1|4|0
W – Franklin (5-1); L – Smith (4-3)
2B – Hayward, McClellan, Kelley (D); Jaramillo (P). Records – D (11-6); P (11-10).
