FRANKLIN, Ind. - Transylvania outhit Franklin 9-8 Sunday but it wasn't enough to prevent a 6-1 victory by the home team in the Heartland Conference regular season baseball finale for both teams.

The Pioneers finish their season with a record of 21-12, 12-9 in HCAC play, while Franklin is now 26-12, 16-8 HCAC. Transy just missed a spot in next week's HCAC Tournament at Manchester, after being edged by Anderson (14-8) for the fourth and final spot in the event.

The Pioneers played fewer games than the HCAC leaders due to rainouts against Defiance and Anderson.

Chris Bloch (Louisville, Ky.) (3-1) took his first loss of the season for the Pioneers, giving up seven hits and four earned runs in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two. Danny Niehaus (Villa Hills, Ky.) pitched the last inning for Transy, giving up a hit and a run with one strikeout.

Franklin scored in the second, third, and fourth innings while building a 5-0 lead. Transy rallied for a run in the eighth on a lead-off double by Zach Muench (Ft. Thomas, Ky.), who took third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Evan Rhea (Louisville, Ky.) to center field.

The Pioneers left two runners on in the eighth and added an insurance tally in the bottom of the eighth.

John Doering (Newport Coast, Calif.), Ben Kuebbing (Burlington, Ky.), and Ken Riley (Lexington, Ky.) each had two hits for the Pioneers, but Muench's double was the only extra base hit.

It was the final game for seven Transy seniors: Rhea, Kuebbing, Thomas Tolliver (Wurtland, Ky.), Michael Moir (Louisville, Ky.), Nick Lawson (Louisville, Ky.), Drew Zuckerman (Lexington, Ky.), and Eric Brady (Louisville, Ky.). Tolliver finished his career with a .403 batting average, the highest in school history.