Massachusetts Team Of The Week - Franklin
May 1, 2019
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Massachusetts Team Of The Week - Franklin
FRANKLIN, Ma. - So how do you follow up a Super 8 championship?
For Zach Brown and the Panthers of Franklin, an unbeaten beginning to the 2019 season isn’t a bad start. It has been accomplished with a target on the back, but to date Franklin has lived up to the challenge and is the Massachusetts Prep Baseball Report Team of the Week.
“I certainly think there is a heightened awareness when a team plays us,” admitted Brown.
It is all about preparation according to the Franklin coach.
“As I say to the players … have a great practice today,” the fifth-year Franklin mentor explained. “We don’t look at the big picture.”
What the Panthers have done this year is excel against some strong pitching.
“Offensively, I’m happy where we are,” Brown said. “We’ve faced a lot of quality arms that have presented a lot of challenges but the guys have held up.”
Pitchers that are committed to Siena, Northeastern and Bryant are among those Franklin has taken on with success so far, led by the trio of Alex Haba, Scott Elliott and Jake Macchi. The Merrimack commits play shortstop, outfield and catcher, respectively, joined in the lineup by two other key seniors. First baseman JD Floris and third baseman Cooper Ross have also performed well for Franklin, which improved to 10-0 on Monday with a 2-0 victory over Oliver Ames.
“First and foremost, we have some really good senior leadership,” Brown said about what has stood out about his squad to date. “We have a good core back that is highly competitive in both games and practices.
“Secondly, we have a bunch of inexperienced varsity arms that have stepped up and emerged. And third, defensively we have been really good at making all the routine plays and not giving the opponent extra opportunities to score runs.”
Brennan Rivera (Video), who threw the shutout on Monday, has taken over as the ace to the staff with Liam Dailey and sophomore Jake Fitzgibbons emerging as the two-three pitchers. Will Pacheco, a junior like Rivera and Dailey, has done the job at the backend.
“All of our guys can really pound the strike zone and make teams have to string together hits to beat them,” Brown noted. “They have been overwhelming the strike zone and not allowing free base runners.”
That has been important after losing a pair of Division I arms from last year’s 21-5 championship team along with another pitcher that logged a lot of innings for the Panthers in 2018.
“The thing that was probably a little question mark going into this year was how were some of the younger arms going to respond,” Brown pointed out. “We thought that they had talent, but until you go out and compete you still have questions until you see it yourself. But they showed flashes last year.”
With Foxborough on the schedule today and Attleboro on Thursday, Brown is hoping for continued strong pitching from a staff that has given up just seven runs over the last six games and 18 total for the season.
“The key to keeping it going is that nobody cares about last year or yesterday,” Brown said. “You can’t control the past or the future. What we can control is our energy level today. Win today and then reset it and play for tomorrow.”