Franklin baseball falls to Taunton in state title game for second year in a row

WORCESTER – One by one, in short left field on the pristine green of Polar Park, Zach Brown did not pause until the task was complete. A hug for every player; final one for his batboy son.

If any team needed an embrace, it is this one.

Franklin’s baseball season can be summed up in five words: Nick Gaspar, Anthony Gates, States.

The Panthers fell Sunday night in the Division 1 baseball championship for the second year in a row. And for the second time this season, they played a game after attending services to honor the death of a schoolmate.

The players squeezed each other one last time while wearing pinstripes after a 7-2 loss to Taunton at the home of the Woo Sox. They spent the morning saying goodbye to Gates, a sophomore football player, who died in a car crash on June 12.

An all-too-familiar – and tragic – scenario for the Panthers, who also attended the wake of Gaspar, who died after a two-year fight with cancer on May 19, before taking the field for the Pedroli Tournament in Natick.

“This has been as challenging a year from a personal standpoint as I’ve ever been a part of,” Brown said. “It was part of our path, part of our journey. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, the way they handled it on a day-to-day basis. Even having the courage today to come out here after attending services in the morning. They have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Franklin, which fell to Taunton, 2-1, in last year’s title game, defeated the Tigers twice during the regular season and had allowed just four runs in four games during their recent playoff run. An extra day off due to heavy rain pushed the championship game to Father’s Day evening, a beautiful night with temperatures in the low 70s.

The delay also gave ace Alfred Mucciarone another 24 hours to rest his powerful right arm.

But the Panthers allowed five runs on three errors in the second inning, deciding the game early.

After sophomore lefty Johnny Escobalez finished off his complete game by inducing a flyball to left, Brown gathered his team near the same spot and hugged it out with his Panthers.

“It was really important,” he said of embracing each player, coach and his son, 13-year-old Jacoby. “These guys mean a lot to me. They’ve been through a lot this year, in particular these last couple of weeks. You hate to see your guys emotional and hurting. We’re really disappointed in the result, but I’m nothing but proud of these guys. To give themselves the opportunity to come back here, especially facing all the adversity that they faced this year, is just a tremendous accomplishment.”

Taunton scored a run in the top of the first inning on a Ryan MacDougall double, then added a five-spot an inning later when errors put Franklin in an early hole. A two-run double by Dawson Bryce and a two-run single from Braden Sullivan made the mistakes hurt.

The Panthers trailed 6-0 through an inning and a half, a stunning score after they had defeated the Tigers 3-2 and 7-4 during the regular season.

“Unfortunately, we played our worst inning of the year in the second inning of the state title game. You can’t have a miscue like that, especially against a tremendous team like Taunton. They played the game of baseball today better than we did.”

Franklin's defense rebounded in the fourth inning when a lunging Tyler Bellan caught a popup behind home plate before firing to second base to double off a Taunton base runner.

The Panthers scored a run in the third inning when Eisig Chin scored on a infield error. Luke Sidwell (2 for 3, stolen base) singled in Henry DiGiorgio in the sixth to plate Franklin's final run.

Taunton retired Franklin 1-2-3 in the seventh to set off a celebration near the mound as Escobalez was playfully tossed to the ground before he ended up on the bottom of the pile. After the Panthers slowly walked off the field toward the third base dugout to pack their gear for the final bus ride home, Brown summed up the challenging season.

“It’s not something that these kids should have to go through but it’s an unfortunate part of life and they’ve had to learn these life lessons at a young age," he said. "I’m proud of how resilient they’ve been the whole year and how they’ve used the game of baseball as a sanctuary and they really stayed together.”

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.

This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Franklin baseball falls to Taunton in state title game again