There’s nothing fancy about the way Franklin Township plays the game of baseball.

It doesn’t hit with power and overwhelm you with gappers to the outfield.

What it does do are a few things that pure baseball lovers enjoy:

• Manufacture runs

• Play sound in the field

• Get solid pitching

• Put pressure on the opposition.

That combination is why manager JC Dietz’s team is riding a crest in the Lehigh Valley Senior Connie Mack League.

Wednesday night, Franklin continued its strong play with a 4-2 victory over Hellertown.

“You know, we don’t have those kids that can drive the ball, so we have to take advantage of situations, and this team has that type of makeup,” said Dietz after watching his team stave off a late inning rally from Hellertown and improving to 7-1 on the season.

All one had to do, is watch the way the Indians seized the momentum in the opening inning. Zoltan Bedocs singled and stole second in a New York City minute. Aiden Solt followed with an excuse-me hit in the infield, before a wild pitch allowed Bedocs to cross home plate. Solt used his wheels to steal second, eventually advance to third on an errant pickoff attempt and like Bedocs came home on a wild pitch.

“I like our teams to be aggressive,” Dietz bellowed with his deep voice. “We need to manufacture runs. We’re not a team that’s going to drive the ball out of the park. So that’s our style.”

It’s a style that has worked a lot so far this season.

It also helped that the Indians were getting a top-flight effort on the mound from starting and winning pitcher Jake “The Snake” Lewis. He never tried over throwing pitches and was consistently around the plate.

“He did a heck of a job,” Dietz said. “We have a really nice 1-2 punch at the top of our rotation in Jake and Cole (Dietz). They throw strikes and when you do that you give yourself a chance to win.”

Lewis was extremely tough throughout the evening, not surrendering a hit through the first five innings - and doing it all in a sultry heat wave before leaving in the top of the seventh. Lewis’ final line had him striking out six batters, while yielding just one run and two hits. He gave way to Pierce Goida in the seventh, who finished things off with a pair of strike outs.

Franklin Township carved out solo runs in the second and fourth innings building a 4-0 lead. Once again the runs came about because of aggressive base running. In the second, Landon Ableovsky reached on an error, stole second and came home on an RBI groundout by Carter Bellis. Hellertown’s defense caved in with a pair of two-out errors in the fourth, allowing Franklin its final run.

“When you play great defense behind your starters, and don’t walk guys, you’re going to win a lot of games,” Dietz said.

That’s exactly what Franklin is doing and that’s why they are in the hunt for a postseason berth.

“All four of our runs were on singles, steals, hit and runs, bunts and forcing mistakes,” Dietz said. “As you can see, we don’t have a lot of big boppers.

“We just play good, old fashion baseball and find ways to manufacture runs.”

WEB GEMS … Both teams threw leather at one and other. Franklin shortstop Cole Dietz and his Hellertown counterpart Mic Gilman both made some solid plays. Tough luck losing pitcher Josiah Kuhns also was sharp with the glove, robbing Dietz of a hit in the second on a hard-hit liner.

BATTERY … Franklin catcher Brady Stubits has a great release and it showed in pegging out a Hellertown runner in the third.

AT THE PLATE … Goida had a double for Franklin - the game’s only extra-base slam. Hunter Kintz added a pair of singles for the winners, while Bedocs and Solt added one hit each. Hellertown’s hits were by Dalton Boyer, Kuhns and Gilman.

Hellertown 000 000 2 - 2 3 4

Franklin Twp. 210 100 x - 4 5 0

Kuhns, Flores (6) and Banonis, Boyer (6); Lewis, Goida (7) and Stubits. W - Lewis. L - Kuhns.