There’s a famous quote in the movie Major League when Cleveland Indians head coach Lou Brown turns to his assistant coach Pepper Leach and says; “It’s starting to come together, Pepper.”

On Wednesday, Franklin Township manager Ron Steigerwalt might have uttered something similar to his coaches after his squad won its eighth consecutive game in Lehigh Valley Connie Mack play, defeating Central 12-2 in five innings.

“Our bats have really come along. We struggled in the beginning of the year, but right now our bats have come alive,” said Steigerwalt. “We’ve pitched well and played defense well throughout the season and that really carried us early, but now that our bats have heated up, we’ve been playing some pretty good baseball.”

The game was tied at 2-2 early on, but a two-run third inning gave Franklin some breathing as it began to pull away.

A double by Aiden Rarick got the inning started. Michael Yeakel and Brady O’Donnell then came through with RBIs in the inning, scoring Aiden Rarick and Ian Rarick.

Ian Rarick helped make sure the lead stood up as he pitched four strong innings, striking out seven and giving up just two hits. The Central lineup seemed to have trouble catching up to Rarick’s stuff.

“I could tell early on it was going to be a tight zone out there, but I was able to adjust to it,” said Rarick. “Defensively, I thought we played well today. I was able to locate my stuff pretty good and when the ball was put in play, we made some nice plays.

“It’s been a nice streak for us and we hope we can keep it going.”

Franklin put the game away in the fifth with a big eight-run inning. Aiden Rarick and Dawson Keiser came up with hits in the inning. Franklin was also aided by a pair of hit batsmen and three walks. Keiser eventually scored the run that enabled the mercy rule to go into effect and end the game.

LEADERS… Keiser led the way with three RBIs and Yeakel and O’Donnell each collected two RBIs. Aiden Rarick had two hits. For Central, Charlie Hahn and James Evans each collected a hit.

WIN STREAK … Franklin has now won eight straight games and improves to 10-3 in Lehigh Valley Connie Mack play.

Central 101 00 – 2 2 3

Franklin Twp. 112 08 – 12 5 1

Eisenhard, Jones (5) and Schiminick; I. Rarick, Keiser (5) and Yeakel. W-I Rarick. L-Eisenhard.