Noblesville Millers drop home opener to 2A #3 Northfield, 4-3

The Noblesville Millers opened up the 2012 home schedule with a little extra hop in their step. After Monday night’s 9-0 whipping of the Pike Red Devils on the road, the Millers were anxious for their first home game and that welcomed the 2A #3 Northfield Norsemen.

2A #3 Northfield wasted no time getting to Noblesville senior starter Taran Murphy. Shortstop Adam Roser led off with a walk and eventually scored in the first on a Ryan Keaffaber single to center. Murphy tallied two strikeouts in the inning, nonetheless.

Murphy settled in after Keaffaber’s RBI single in the first. He struck out the side in the second and another couple K's in the third to give him seven batters fanned in just three innings of work. 

In the bottom of third, 2B Nick Miller got the Miller bats going with an infield single. Sam Wides dropped down a sacrifice bunt, advancing Miller to second. Noblesville got on the board when freshman CF Brian McLean roped a single to center field, scoring Miller from third to tie the game at 1-1. 

Junior Mike Speek took the mound for Noblesville in the fourth. After walking his first hitter, Joseph Ross, Speek forced Dallas Hovey to pop out to Nevin Fansher in foul territory. Andy Maggart hit a soft liner to Nick Miller at second. Miller leaped to make the catch for the second out and then caught Ross leading off first base and doubled up Ross to end the inning with a double play. 

Speek seemed to be in a groove to start the fifth, but only briefly. Striking out DH Jared Kirtlan and Hunter Wells flying out to right in the first two at-bats, Speek was comfortable. Adam Roser dropped a single over third base and between third baseman Garrett Christman, shortstop Nick Vallier and L Garrett Welch. Tanner Chamberlain reached with an infield single, giving the Norsemen two aboard. Catcher Andy Roser was in control, up with a 2-0 count. Roser took a 2-0 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run home run, extending Northfield's lead to 4-1 through five. 

Miller junior reliever Tyler Chapman took the hill after Andrew Waldon laid down a perfect bunt halfway down the third base line off Speek. Chapman struck out three in his 2 1/3 innings of work, keeping the Northfield bats in check.

Noblesville started a two out rally in the sixth. Garrett Welch smoked a single to center. DH Mike Nichols smacked a double over the head of Tanner Chamberlain in center, scoring Welch and closing the Norsemen lead to 4-2.

The Miller bats were back at it for one final shot in the bottom of the seventh. Pinch hitter Luke Porter led off with a single to left. Justin Holloway pinch hit for Wides and walked for two on for Noblesville. Fansher K'd on three straight pitches. Brian McLean drilled a single to center, scoring Porter, making the score 4-3 with Northfield still in front. With a 2-2 count, Nick Vallier hit a ball in the infield to short for a force out at second, Vallier was safe with a fielder's choice at first. Wides, came back in to run for Holloway, who pinch hit for him. Wides tried scoring from second on the Vallier hit. Sliding head first into home, Wides slid his left hand to the back side of the plate, trying to avoid the tag. Wides was called out on the play and the ballgame was over.

Quite the dramatic finish to Tuesday's home opener, but the Millers fell to the 2A #3 Northfield Norsemen, 4-3.

The loss drops Noblesville to 1-1 on the new season. Senior Garrett Welch and freshman Brian McLean were the Noblesville bright spots at the plate. With each going 2-for-3, Welch had a double and McLean two RBI's, both in their varsity debuts. Despite only three innings of work, starter Taran Murphy struck out 7 batters and allowed just two hits to his credit. 

Noblesville has a lot of inexperience at the varsity level, but with 13 seniors on the roster in 2012, there is a lot of leadership to help Coach Justin Keever's team.

This Saturday is the Noblesville Classic. The Millers play Homestead at 11 a.m. Game 2 is Chicago's De La Salle vs. Cincinnati Moeller at around 1:30. The consolation game will be played at 4 pm, followed by the Noblesville Classic championship game at around 6:30 pm.  

Irish escape South Florida in Big East quarters, 57-53 in OT. Seven-seeded Louisville next for 3-seed Notre Dame

In the Big East quarterfinal night cap on Thursday, Notre Dame knew that it would face a pretty feisty South Florida Bulls squad. This was honestly a true battle of two teams that have learned to succeed through running the "Burn Offense." For those of you who aren't familiar with this style, it's very simple. With the Burn Offense, that particular team slows the tempo of the game down so that their opponent cannot succeed on defense, while using a majority of the shot clock and keeping the control of the game in their hands. It caters to their offense getting exactly what it wants and the defense being stymied because it completely throws off their game plan.

Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, you just had a feeling that #23 Notre Dame was going to do whatever it had to do possible to get the win and advance to play Louisville in the Semifinals Friday night.

Neither team shot anything close to good. South Florida shot 38% and Notre Dame 39%. The two matched each others' three-point shooting, with the Bulls shooting 8-17 (47%) and the Irish knocking down 8-16 (50%).

Up by a narrow 28-26 halftime lead, Notre Dame tried to do what it could to pull away, but there's no pulling away from this USF team. The Bulls outdueld the Irish 19-17 in the 2nd half to knot things at 45-45 to take this Big East tilt into overtime.

The leadership of sophomore Eric Atkins showed up big in the overtime frame. Atkins scored all 6 of his points in overtime, but he does much more than score for Notre Dame. The Irish point guard also grabbed four rebounds, dished out six assists and nabbed a couple of steals. If he's not scoring, that's exactly what you want out of your point guard!

If you want my honest opinion, there should have been an over-the-back foul called on USF's Augustus Gilchrist when ND's Jack Cooley grabbed a rebound in the waining seconds of regulation. The call was a jump ball and we headed to overtime. I think it really only motivated the Irish to dial it up a notch in the extra period.

That said, Notre Dame took the overtime 12-8 and won the quarterfinal 57-53. Tonight (Friday), the 3rd seed Irish play in the 2nd Big East semifinal against 7-seed Louisville. Notre Dame won the regular season meeting at Louisville, 67-65 in double overtime.

Freshmen Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant led Notre Dame with 12 points a piece in a very shared offensive effort for the Irish. Scott Martin notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Somewhat of a quiet night for center Jack Cooley with 9 points and 3 blocks (just one rebound). Eric Atkins filled up his stat line with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals to his credit. Alex Dragicevich dropped in 8 points (2-2 on 3's) off the bench. Tom Knight also spelled Cooley well during his time off the bench, grabbing two rebounds.