Champions again: Franklin Wildcats of Elk Grove win CIF section title
Tyler Cody represents what is good and noble about high school sports. The young high school baseball team that he helps anchor in Elk Grove as a senior leader is an example of how to play the game the right way.
On Friday night at Sacramento City College, Cody chased down two deep shots to left field at Union Stadium in the bottom of the seventh and final inning against the top-ranked team in the valley; and sophomore marvel Royal McKinney had an RBI base hit to highlight a four-run fifth inning — and then earned the save with three strikeouts — as the Franklin Wildcats downed St. Mary’s of Stockton, 4-3.
Players, some of whom have known one another since they were 5 years old, raced to the outfield fence after putting on their new caps as the newly minted CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champions. It’s the second such achievement in three seasons for longtime coach Bryan Kilby.
The team is fueled by star power talents in LSU-committed junior and leading hitter Dylan Minnatee and Cal-bound junior infielder Jason Harris, who who roped a two-out, three-run double to give Franklin a 3-1 lead in the fifth. With players large and small, the Wildcats feature contributors up and down the lineup and all over on defense.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Cody scored a run and never broke a sweat in navigating gusty conditions while patrolling left field, leaving his father and Franklin athletic director Mike Cody to say later, “I was about to throw up!”
Said the ever composed son: “Never a doubt!”
Cody grew up around baseball, already a lifer before graduation. His father was the founding varsity baseball coach when Franklin opened in the Elk Grove Unified School District in 2002. The school’s longtime athletic director, the elder Cody has been an off-and-on assistant coach for years with Kilby, who’s team improved to 26-7 with its seventh consecutive win. The streak includes beating Sacramento Bee No. 1-ranked Rocklin of the Sierra Foothill League in a semifinal series sweep. Franklin entered the playoffs ranked second by The Bee.
Franklin defeated the defending champs and their left-handed Cal-bound ace Tanner Grove. The St. Mary’s senior who is off to Cal on scholarship came in with a 6-1 record and an 0.93 ERA, and he struck out nine in four-plus innings as the Wildcats chipped away.
Cody is a 4.3 GPA student who’s had quite a spring well beyond his .337 batting average, outfield play and pitching efforts. He was in recent weeks honored by the governing body CIF as a section Dale Lackey Scholarship winner and the CIF’s Spirit of Sport winner. Those are high honors in a hugely competitive field of exceptional student-athletes in the 198-school section, the second largest of the 10 sections that are dotted across the state.
Cody played football for the first time last fall, because that’s what a senior leader who happens to be the campus rally director does. Franklin reached the football playoffs for the first time in seven years.
And one more bonus: Friday was the last day of school for Franklin seniors such as Arizona-bound ace Dylan Wood, pitchers Kyle Pott and Chance Moore, and outfielder Nolan Manois.
“I couldn’t ask for a better senior year,” said Cody, who will play at Cosumnes River College of the Los Rios Community College District. “Couldn’t ask for a better last day of school.”
A young, fun team
In sizing up the program that he has watched since his youth and then played for, Cody said, “I’m impressed. We get guys. There are some absolute studs. And we’re definitely home grown. Every kid here played on the Laguna Youth team.”
The current Laguna team attended Friday’s game in uniform, as did its coaches. The Franklin players were those kids not too long ago.
Coach Kilby said the best years of the program are in the future, though the immediate future is the CIF Northern California Regional Playoffs that start at home sites on June 3.
Other youngster Franklin starters include freshman catcher Brandon Williams, junior infielder Kyle Timmons, junior outfielder Noah Flores and sophomore outfielder Easton Fernald. The team is marked by its talent and composure.
“It’s a fun team to be around,” Kilby said. “We’re so young, and we can get better.”
A youthful team anchored by seniors such as Cody.
“He’s been phenomenal,” Kilby said. “He leads our team in on-base percentage and makes big plays (tonight) in the bottom of the seventh. He’s the ideal kid and young man.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2025 at 10:24 PM.