Franklinton had its struggles Monday in the opening round of the Northshore Summer Baseball League playoffs in a 13-4 loss to Bulldog Diamond Club (Fontainebleau High-based).

The Demons (6-2-1 at press time) got down, 8-0, after 5.5 innings.

Bulldog Diamond Club (7-6 at press time) didn’t have that breakout inning until the seventh but continually put runs on the board and took advantage of five Franklinton errors.

Offensively, the Demons were limited to just four hits and had only one through the first five frames, a third-inning single to right field by Cameron Dominguez.

The pitchers also struggled. Bulldog Diamond Club had men on base throughout the night. They had at least one base runner in every inning, as they pounded out 13 hits, while drawing 10 walks, and two batters were hit by a pitch.

“We were bad at the plate. We were bad defensively, bad on the mound. We were behind hitters all night, walked a bunch of people. It was just a bad approach,” Franklinton coach Jeff Tageant said. “We just didn’t come ready to play.”

Tageant said he was looking for his team to end the summer on a good note but said Monday’s game was very disappointing.

The Demons played their final summer league game after yesterday’s press time against Lakeshore, while Bulldog Diamond Club advanced to the semifinals to face Northshore. The other semifinal game featured St. Paul’s School playing at Covington.

Bulldog Diamond Club scored twice in the first. With one out, Luis Hernandez reached on a two-base error, which was followed by three consecutive hits. Hernandez, who had two singled and two runs batted in, scored when Keith Hunter, who posted four hits and four RBIs, tallied a run-scoring single. Courtesy runner Louis Pyle tallied on an error after Cameron Badinger, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, got hit and drove in three, singled.

Bulldog Diamond Club led 2-0 after the first.

Bulldog Diamond Club added one in the third.

Hernandez walked and later scored on Badinger’s RBI double, giving the vistors a 3-0 lead.

Bulldog Diamond Club doubled its lead with three runs in the fourth. Brady Morgan singled to lead off, but was forced at second on Beau Turner’s grounder. Hunter Bastion singled and Cody Marshall walked to load the bases. Hernandez picked up an RBI on a fielder’s choice grounder, but everybody was safe on an error and it was a 4-0 advantage. Two more came around to score on Hunter’s double and Bulldog Diamond Club had increased its lead to 6-0 through four innings.

Bulldog Diamond Club upped it to 8-0 in the sixth. Hernandez singled, and Hunter doubled before Peyton Wineski hit a two-run double for the eight-run margin.

Franklinton continued to fight back and scored four in the sixth to cut the lead in half.

Trevor Jenkins walked and scored when the next hitter Mack McElveen hit an RBI double to left centerfield to put the Demons on the board, to make it 8-1. Jamarain Crain hit an infield single to third and McElveen moved up. Crain stole second. Two batters later, Major McElveen plated Mack McElveen with an RBI single to center, trimming the lead to 8-2.

After the second out, Austin Bradford reached on an error, which allowed Crain and courtesy runner Justin Alford to score and make it 8-4.

Also for Franklinton, catcher C.J. Estave continues to shut down teams’ running games. He threw out another would-be base stealer with a perfect throw to Landon Magee, who made the tag, in the first inning.

Bulldog Diamond Club responded by scoring five runs in the seventh to finish off the, 13-4, win to advance to the semifinals, which took place yesterday, after press time.