Franklin Township’s Senior Connie Mack squad entered Friday’s contest against East Stroudsburg on a roll.

The Mud Dawgs had won four in a row, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 48-2 margin.

But baseball has a way of humbling a team when they least expect it.

And that’s exactly what happened to Franklin.

East Stroudsburg took advantage of numerous walks, came through with timely hitting and received a solid pitching performance to run away with a 19-1 victory.

“Baseball can ground you real fast,” said FT head coach JC Dietz. “Just when you think everything’s going pretty good, the next thing you know you get clubbed.

“This was a good old-fashioned butt kicking. We’ll have to recover from this and move on. But credit goes to them. They played all three phases well. They pitched well, they played defense well, they hit with runners in scoring position.”

Mike O’Donnell got Eastburg off to a strong start with a solo homer in the first, but free passes the next two frames doomed the Dawgs.

Rylan Banning delivered a two-run single in the second with both runners who scored having reached via walks.

“That’s a pretty good team,” said Dietz. “And once we were walking them, then they were hitting.”

The visitors took full control in the third, sending 17 men to the plate and scoring 11 times to take a 14-0 lead. Franklin pitchers walked six in the inning and five of them crossed home plate. Eastburg also made solid contact as Noah Whitney, Orion Tucker and Connor Cunningham all had two-run singles.

While FT couldn’t slow down the East Stroudsburg offense, they also couldn’t solve the pitching of Luke Greene.

The right-hander allowed just four hits and walked only one.

“I was very impressed with their pitcher,” said Dietz. “He had two pitches that he threw for strikes, but not only that, he knew what he was doing on the mound. He was changing his speeds.

“Their pitcher really set the tone, in my opinion, because I thought early we had some good at-bats. We had some good swings.”

The winners also continued to have good at-bats, plating five more runs in the fifth. Once again, walks were an issue, as three free passes set up the scoring.

“We had eight walks after three innings ... and most of them scored,” said Dietz. “Our starting pitcher normally doesn’t walk as many as he did, and we’re not used to walking kids. In fact, pitching and defense is usually what keeps us in games. But he didn’t have it tonight and that’s baseball.

“There’s no losing sleep over this one, that’s for sure. There’s no second guessing. They just whipped us, plain and simple. We got whipped and now it’s back to the drawing board and back to another game on Monday. It’s never easy (to get over a game like this), but you’ve got to with this one.”

BIG HITTERS ... Tucker had three hits and three RBIs for Eastburg, while Banning ended with a pair of hits and knocked in three.

WALK THIS WAY ... FT pitchers ended up with 12 walks and also hit a batter. Of the 13 “free” baserunners, 11 of them eventually scored. Of the 148 pitches thrown by Franklin hurlers, 74 were strikes and 74 were balls.

LONE RUN ... The only run by the Mud Dawgs came in the fourth, and ironically it involved a walk. Chase Llewellyn received a free pass, moved to second on an infield single by Brock Atwood, and to third on a fielder’s choice. Llewellyn eventually scored on a passed ball. Atwood had two hits in the game, while Cash White and Jaxson Markell each had one.

UP NEXT ... FT will try to rebound on Monday when it travels to face Emmaus.

East Stroudsburg 12(11) 05 - 19 13 1

Franklin Township 00 0 10 - 1 4 0

Greene and Fuller; Haydt, White (3), Bellis (3), Birnbaum (5) and Goida, Atwood (4). W - Greene. L - Haydt. HR: East Stroudsburg - O’Donnell (1st, none on).

Records: East Stroudsburg (3-3); Franklin Township (4-2).