Brotherly bond helps create special season for Franklin Regional baseball

By: William Whalen
Friday, June 14, 2019 | 10:34 PM

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The Franklin Regional baseball team found its inspiration when players showed up one day for practice, and a dead frog was in the dugout.

Players named the frog after former teammate and 2018 grad Alex Frey, and it ended up on a player’s steering wheel. Eventually, the Panthers gathered around the pitcher’s mound, removed their hats and gave the frog a proper burial.

From that point on, this season would go down as the Year of the Frog.

“(Bryce) Harper took his hat off and talked for a few minutes on what this frog meant to this team. The frog was an icon for the team this year,” said senior pitcher Michael Klingensmith, a Wooster commit.

The Panthers leapfrogged their competition this season and went on a run no one soon will forget. Franklin Regional (19-3) was stacked with talent and solid in all three phases, but it was the a close-knit bond that drove this team to its first section title in 13 seasons, a No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the WPIAL Class 5A playoffs.

“We were able to have fun, bond and just play baseball, which was the key to success for us,” said senior Tommy Kegerreis, a Mesa (Ariz.) Community College recruit. “Our team was so close.”

That closeness was everywhere on the field.

The defense took the pressure off the pitching, and the Panthers’ ability to hit took the pressure off everyone.

“Statistically speaking, this is the best hitting team that we had in my tenure here at Franklin Regional,” said Panthers coach Bob Sadler, who just finished his ninth season. “One through nine (in our lineup), there wasn’t a kid that was a gimme. That’s why we were able to be so successful this year.”

Franklin Regional finished the season with a team batting average of .344. Kegerreis led the Panthers with a .500 average, including seven doubles, three triples, three home runs and 23 RBIs. Klingensmith finished his senior season batting .444 from the leadoff spot and led the Panthers with 34 runs. Sophomore Louie Kegerreis batted .430 with 22 RBIs. Yale commit Jake Williams batted .333 with 24 runs scored, and junior catcher Byrce Harper finished with a .352 average.

“The strength of this team was that everyone went into battle and was always loose and having fun,” Tommy Kegerreis said.

Franklin Regional had three aces this season. Palmer Jackson went 5-0 record with a 1.03 ERA. Klingensmith was 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA, and Andrew Muraco finished his sophomore season with a 7-1 record and a 1.97 ERA, including a no-hitter in a 3-0 win over Section 1 foe Woodland Hills.

Sure, the season didn’t end the way the Panthers wanted. Expectations were high. But the three-hour bus ride home from Scotland following Franklin Regional’s 7-2 loss to Lampeter-Strasburg in the PIAA quarterfinals revealed this team’s chemistry and character.

“You can tell after the game the boys were upset that they lost,” Sadler said. “They’re competitors. When we got on the bus, it was quiet for a little bit and then they realized that it was a good season.”

And then, Harper popped in his playlist and led it off with the Panthers’ victory song: “Everytime We Touch” by Cascada.

Sure, it wasn’t the type of song one would expect a bunch of baseball players to rally around, but these Panthers weren’t the average baseball team.

“As a team, we knew that was everybody’s last game together and everybody put away their sadness,” Klingensmith said. “Everybody enjoys each others’ presence and enjoyed each other even though it didn’t end the way we expected.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Franklin Regional