TURNERS FALLS — Nick Prasol played an entire baseball career without a walk-off hit. The sophomore, who began playing baseball at age five, found himself at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning of a tie ballgame for the Franklin Tech baseball team against Turners Falls on Friday afternoon.
With Hunter Donahue on third, Prasol laced a single down the third baseline, giving the Eagles a 4-3 walk-off win over the Thunder in Suburban East play.
“I wanted to get a pitch that I could hit,” Prasol said. “Hopefully put it in the air or put it on the ground, somewhere where they can’t get it. End the game right there.”
Donahue singled with one out to open the seventh. After a stolen base and a throwing error, Donahue stood at third poised to come home and win the game. Donahue coasted into home plate as the team went to greet Prasol.
“That was really important,” Prasol said. “If he (Donahue) didn’t get on third, we probably wouldn’t have ended it and we might still be playing right now.”
Prasol finished 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Donahue had two hits and three runs scored.
Tech’s Hunter Donahue is safe at home as Turners Falls’ Davis Burnett leaps for the high throw on Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners Falls Porter Dubow is safe back at first ahead of the throw to Tech’s Nick Prasol Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Tech’s Brody Hicks connects vs Turners Falls Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Tech’s Jed Niquette leaps for the throw as Turners Falls Brody Girard is saafe at second Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners Falls Brody Girard is tagged out at third by Tech’s George Gutierrez Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners Falls Nathaniel Trinque tags out Tech’s Cody Yetter at second Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Tech conference at the mound vs Turners Falls Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners Falls’ Ethan Eichorn pitches vs Tech Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners Falls’ Julian Kaiser is out at third under Tech’s tag by George Gutierrez on Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Turners Falls’ Davis Burnett connects vs Tech on Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo 
Franklin Tech’s Hunter Donahue is safe at 2nd ahead of the throw to Turners Falls Nathaniel Trinque on Friday at Franklin Tech. PAUL FRANZ / Staff Photo
Levi Clark pitched another effective game for Eagles. Clark pitched seven innings, giving up two earned runs, five hits with three strikeouts and four walks. The Eagles (5-1, 3-1) took an early lead after an infield single by Wayde Bardwell scored a run in the first inning. Prasol knocked in another run in the bottom of the second, giving Franklin Tech a 2-0 lead.
Turners Falls (1-3, 1-2) then took the lead after scoring three runs in the top of the third. Franklin Tech had to make a comeback against the Thunder to pull off the victory.
“There’s a mental toughness aspect that you need in baseball,” Franklin Tech coach Dan Prasol said. “Baseball is a game of failure. We had one bad inning. The kids hung in there and came back. That’s huge. You can’t teach mental toughness. We kept our heads and did what we had to do.”
Julian Kaiser singled home two runs in the top of the third for the Thunder. Another run scored on an error in the inning for Turners Falls. The Thunder had five hits in the game.
“We got the bats going a little bit,” Turners Falls coach Scott Minckler said. “We made better contact than we have all this year. That’s what we’ve been concentrating on, we just had three days of practice which was a lot of hitting. I was glad to see that. I just think that early we really didn’t get going, then we got it going in the middle and then the last three they just shut us down.”
Ethan Eichorn took the loss on the mound for the Thunder. The senior pitched into the seventh inning, giving up eight hits, three earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts. Brody Hicks’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth tied the game, 3-3, for Franklin Tech. The Eagles had eight hits total.
Jackson Cogswell went 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Thunder. Kaiser finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.
