Baseball Game Preview: Center Grove Trojans vs. Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs

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Previous Games

04/12/25 - Home	8-6 W
04/06/24 - Home	5-1 W
05/13/23 - Away	14-2 W
04/08/23 - Home	8-7 W
05/13/22 - Away	9-3 W
+ 5 more games

Center Grove is a perfect 10-0 against Franklin Community since May of 2019 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Friday. The Trojans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Grizzly Cubs at 6:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Center Grove 3.1, Franklin Community 3.3) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Center Grove is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Indiana's top teams: Brownsburg, who was ranked 18th at the time (Center Grove was ranked fourth). The Trojans fell just short of the Bulldogs by a score of 4-3 on Monday. It was the first time this season that the Trojans let down their fans at home.

Kellen Thomson was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed eight innings while giving up three earned runs off six hits. What's more, he gave up only one walk, the fewest he's had since back in May of 2024.

At the plate, Drake McClurg and Andrew Krupa did some serious damage despite the final result: McClurg got on base in three of his five plate appearances with one run, one double, and one RBI, while Krupa went 3-for-5 with two stolen bases. The team also got some help courtesy of Grady Grant, who went 1-for-3 with one run and one double.

Meanwhile, Franklin Community made easy work of Greenwood on Thursday and carried off an 11-3 win. Considering the Grizzly Cubs have won seven matchups by more than seven runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.

Franklin Community has been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Center Grove, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 17-4.

Center Grove came out on top in a nail-biter against Franklin Community when the teams last played back in April, sneaking past 8-6. Do the Trojans have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Grizzly Cubs turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.