NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Manchester baseball team hosted the Franklin College Grizzlies for a three-game series on Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31. 

The Grizzlies took game one 8-5, but the Spartans bounced back with a 14-7 win in seven innings in game two on Friday night. On Saturday, Franklin pulled away for a 16-7 victory over the Spartans.
 
GAME 1: FRANKLIN 8, MANCHESTER 5

• A sacrifice fly by Rocco Hanes (Ossian, Ind., Norwell) scored Austin Knowles (Nassau, Bahamas, Athens Christian (Ga.)) to put Manchester on the board first in the bottom of the 4th inning on Friday. 
• Franklin would answer, scoring four runs in the top of the 5th inning to take the lead. 
• First-year Ian Nuckles (Martinsville, Ind., Martinsville) hit a solo homerun in the 6th inning to cut the Grizzlies' lead to two. Michael Dierckman (Fort Wayne, Ind., Carroll) hit another solo homerun in the 8th inning, followed by Joel Kennedy (Mooreland, Ind., Monroe Central) with a two-run homer to bring Manchester within one run.
• The Grizzlies would respond with a homerun of their own in the top of the 9th inning en route to the 8-5 win in game one. 
• Ty Layson (Fort Wayne, Ind., Homestead) got the start on the mound for the Black and Gold, giving up 13 hits while striking out three batters in 7.2 innings pitched. Andrew McGray (Carmel, Ind., Carmel) and Arturo Casas (Pendleton, Ind., Pendleton Heights) each threw 0.2 innings of relief in game one.

GAME 2: MANCHESTER 14, FRANKLIN 4 (7 INNINGS)

• Game two was tied 1-1 after an RBI double from Rocco Hanes in the bottom of the 1st inning. The Black and Gold would take the one-run lead thanks to an RBI single from Gavin Gleason (Brookston, Ind., Delphi Community).
• After Franklin took the 3-2 lead, the Black and Gold scored six runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning to take the lead for good. 
• Ian Nuckles hit another homerun in the 5th inning of game two to put Manchester up 9-4. 
• The Spartans were able to hold off the Grizzlies to take game two by a final score of 14-7 in seven innings. 
• As a team, Manchester had 14 hits, including extra-base hits from Mitchell Baker (Plainfield, Ind., Plainfield), Rocco Hanes, Michael Dierckman, and Ian Nuckles. 
• Hanes threw 4.2 innings on the mound for MU, holding Franklin to four hits while striking out eight batters.
• Brett Wathen (Ossian, Ind., Norwell) threw 2.1 innings in relief, allowing just one hit and collecting one strikeout.

GAME 2: FRANKLIN 16, MANCHESTER 7

• The Grizzlies jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the 1st inning of Saturday's game. 
• Michael Dierckman (Fort Wayne, Ind., Carroll) hit his second homerun of the weekend in the bottom of the 2nd inning to put two runs on the board for Manchester. 
• Two Spartans hit homeruns in the 4th inning, the first one coming off the bat of catcher Gavin Gleason, followed by a two-run homerun by Ian Nuckles. Nuckles hit three homeruns against Franklin and went 2-4 at the plate in game three with two runs scored and two RBI.
• Manchester would score two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning but were unable to stop the Grizzlies as Franklin won game three 16-7.

UP NEXT:

• Due to projected weather forecasts, Manchester baseball has postponed their non-conference game against Heidelberg University originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 2. No makeup date has yet been announced. 
• The Spartans will continue conference play on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6 with a three-game series at Earlham College.