After two close losses by a combined three runs, New Franklin bounced back with a convincing 3-0 win over Community (7-5) at home on Monday night. 

The Bulldogs are now 8-6 overall and face back-to-back road games.

New Franklin took advantage of five errors throughout the game. Consecutive errors in the bottom of the first allowed the Bulldogs to take a 1-0 lead.

Another error in the bottom of the fourth allowed Lane Hackman to reach first. He later scored on a single by Brandon Phillips to put the Bulldogs in front 2-0.

The same thing happened in the bottom of the sixth. Luke Paulson reached on an error to lead off the inning. Courtesy runner Landon Shaw then scored on a single by senior Jake Marshall.

Paulson earned the win on the mound for New Franklin, pitching seven shutout innings with no hits. He struck out five and issued three walks.

New Franklin coach Erich Gerding credited the efforts of his battery of Paulson and catcher Drew Rhorer. “I would still like to see us throw strike one sooner, but our defense was on point tonight, especially in the outfield.”

New Franklin scored three runs on seven hits, all singles. No. 7 hitter Sawyer Felten and nine-hole batter Nolan McGowan each finished the game with two hits.

“The bottom of our order executed really well,” Gerding said.

Community senior Mason Carroll took the loss for the Trojans. He surrendered three unearned runs on seven hits without issuing a walk and struck out a game-high nine batters.

“He pitched a whale of a game, too,” Gerding said.

The Bulldogs were to travel to Class 4 Hallsville (4-10) on Tuesday after the Advertiser went to press. On Wednesday, they head to Paris (1-5). New Franklin returns home for Senior Night against Slater (1-7) next Tuesday.