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Franklin

FRANKLIN, Ma. - A suicide squeeze plated the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to give Franklin the Super 8 state championship a year ago. Matching that accomplishment will obviously be no easy task for head coach Zach Brown and company.

“We’re going to be inexperienced on the hill,” noted the fifth-year mentor, who coached previously at Wheaton College before coming to Franklin. “We’re going to be relying on guys that were in more of a relief role last year. We hope to play good defense and score some runs to allow them to get comfortable for us.”

Senior Ben Guzman was 1-0 with one save and a 1.05 ERA a year ago while junior Will Pacheco, a 5-11 180-pounder rated 207th in New England’s 2020 class, was 1-0 in seven appearance for a team that finished 21-5. Junior Brennan Rivera, a right-hander like Guzman and Pacheco, is also expected to help overcome the loss of graduates Bryan Woelfel and Jake Noviello. The 5-10 140-pounder is ranked 208th in New England.

Woelfel, the Super 8 MVP who is now at High Point, was 7-1 with a 0.95 ERA while Noviello, currently pitching at Fairfield, finished 7-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 2018.

“We had a number of guys that were standouts,” noted Brown about the 2018 Panthers, with first baseman Steve Luttazi one of the best. Now at UMass-Amherst, Luttazi hit .304 with a dozen runs scored for the state champions a year ago.

But the cupboard will be far from bare for Franklin, which last year was one of four New England schools honored for academics (3.74 team GPA) by the American Baseball Coaches Association while also being a co-recipient of the Hockomock League Sportsmanship Award.

“We have three back that were core guys for us last year as juniors,” explained Brown. “All are signed with Merrimack.”

Number three hitter Alex Hahn returns at shortstop, Jake Macchi is back at catcher and Scott Elliott provides experience at a corner outfield position. Hahn, a 6-0 175-pounder, hit .314 with 19 runs, 15 stolen bases, 12 RBIs and six triples last year while the 6-4 185-pound Macchi batted .382 with 15 runs, 16 RBIs and nine doubles. The 5-11 160-pound left-handed hitting Elliott, the 75th-ranked senior in New England, had a team-high 18 RBIs while averaging .292 with 17 runs and five triples in the number two-hole of the Franklin lineup.

“We return seven that have started for us, so that should be a strength,” Brown noted. “Experience returning up the middle should make us strong defensively.”

Junior Jack Nally, who hit .303 with 17 runs scored, is back in center field with senior Cooper Ross, a .408 hitter in 2018, returning to third base.

Duplicating the 2018 season is made more difficult playing in a league that last year featured two state champions - Franklin winning the Super 8 and North Attleboro Division II. In addition, Mansfield qualified for the Super 8.

“Our goal is always to compete for a league title,” Brown said.

The head coach knows for that to happen, as well as success in the postseason, two areas are of utmost importance.

“Pitching and defense has always been our cornerstone for the program,” Brown explained. “We want to make sure we’re limiting the number of base runners getting on by walks and errors. If we get beat, we don’t want to beat ourselves.

“Offensively, we want to rely on being versatile and not just play small ball or sit back and hit home runs. We want to do whatever we’re called upon to do to manufacture or score runs. We want to play our game and apply pressure as much as possible.

“This team will go as far as our team chemistry allows us to,” continued Brown. “It’s important to know our roles and execute when called upon.”