Game 1 (Wednesday) Fishers 4, Noblesville 3
After dropping four straight on their spring break trip in Knoxville, Tennessee, the diamond Millers came home to try and get things off on the right foot in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. Wednesday at Fishers was their first test and quite the test it was.
Starter Ben Yoder seemed pretty dialed in the first couple of innings, only allowing one base runner via a walk. The Tigers figured out Yoder in the third. Catcher Clay Small began the 3rd with a walk on the first four pitches. The following pitch to Jon Cordell was grounded up the middle and knocked down by Yoder at the mound. He picked the ball up and instinctively threw to second in attempt to force out Small, but his throw was rushed and late. Cordell reached first on a fielder’s choice (not a hit, like the Fishers scoreboard read) and Small advanced to second, but was out on the play as Wides decided to get the lead runner out at third. Parker Lasch got aboard with an infield single. Garrett Schlotter also got on base with a fielder’s choice, loading the bases. Drew Clark pinch hit for Blake Baumgartner and made his hitting presence felt right away. Clark smoked a three-run double down the left field line, scoring Cordell, Lasch and Schlotter for a 3-0 Fishers lead.
It was Noblesville’s turn to do some scoring. DH Garrett Welch led the fourth off with a nice bloop single over Lasch at short and into shallow left-center. Garrett Christman and Mike Nichols both reached with one-out walks to load to bases with Millers. John Cola drove home Welch with an RBI single into right field. Brian McLean hit a two-run single to left. Cameron VanderBerg misplayed the ball and it allowed both Christman and Nichols to trot home to tie the Tigers 3-3 after four.
Yoder (4.2 innings) and reliever Brock Hammond (2.1 innings) kept Fishers pretty much in-check from that point. The two combined for 7 strikeouts and 4 hits over the final three frames, but it was the last of Hammond’s three allowed hits that was the most crucial.
Hammond got slightly rattled in the bottom of the sixth, allowing Fishers to start off with a double and a walk from the first two hitters. Brock struck out the side from that point, leaving two Tigers stranded.
Noblesville went 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, with Wides, Nevin Fansher and Welch flying out to center, right and left, respectively.
Hammond struck out Schlotter to start and it seemed that he had full intention of sending this game to extras. The meat of the Tiger order had other plans. Matt Woolwine singled to right-center and Clark walked to put two on with one out for Fishers. DH JP Pena was 0-2 with a walk before his seventh inning at-bat. With a 1-2 count, Pena drilled a walk-off single to right center. Woolwine is quick enough that he tested the arm of CF Steven Jones, but Jones’ throw wouldn’t have been in time. Woolwine crossed the plate, giving Fishers a 4-3 win.
Game 2 (Thursday) Fishers 7, Noblesville 0
Drew Clark kept his bat hot from the night before, leading off the game with a bloop single over Nevin Fansher’s head and just beyond the third base bag. Garrett Schlotter and Matt Woolwine struck out in consecutive at-bats. JP Pena walked and Pena/Clark were driven in by a Cameron VanderBerg two-run double just inside fair territory down the right field line. Jon Simonett accounted for Murphy’s third K of the inning, but it was a 3-0 deficit before the Millers even picked up their bats.
Fishers starter Justin Rhodes did exactly what head coach Matthew Cherry asked of him. Rhodes didn’t allow his first base runner until the 4th inning and that was when LF Brian McLean reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jon Cordell, only to be left stranded at second base.
I don’t think that Taran’s arm was getting tired, but I think that Fishers slowly but surely got in the heads of the Miller defense as a whole. Parker Lasch led the fifth off reaching base with a throwing error on Murphy. With one out, Blake Baumgartner came in to pinch hit for Jon Cordell at and play third. Baumgartner blooped a single into shallow right center, giving the Tigers two on. Drew Clark and pinch hitter Ben Pritchett both reached by way of the fielder’s choice, scoring Lasch. Bases were loaded for Matt Woolwine and this veteran hitter knew exactly what to do. The senior centerfielder Woolwine smacked a two-run triple down into the left field corner, scoring Baumgartner and Clark. JP Pena then roped an RBI single to center to end the Fishers scoring for the fifth and the game, sending Woolwine across the plate to put Fishers up by what would be the final score of 7-0.
Noblesville’s bats went 2-for-7 in the sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t muster enough offense to produce any runs that would help them rally on Thursday night at The Dunk.
Miller relievers Mike Speek and Brock Masterson faced a combined seven Fishers hitters, with four of those becoming strikeout victims and allowing only two runners aboard.
Taran Murphy has been quite the surprise in the Noblesville pitching rotation. Murphy struck out 11 Fishers hitters Thursday night in his 5 innings of work.
The win moves Fishers to 9-3 (2-0 HCC) and drops Noblesville to 2-8 (0-2 HCC) on their respective seasons.
It’s time for the Noblesville Millers to fully “right their ship,” so to speak. Coach Keever has been experimenting with many different lineup changes throughout the first 10 games. Shifting different players to different parts of the batting order to figure out where players hit best is certainly a frustrating thing for a baseball coach. Patience is going to be the key for the Miller coaching staff. Things will get better and that will happen on Saturday at Dunker Field.
The battle for the White River Rivalry is at The Dunk at 7pm Saturday evening vs. the Carmel Greyhounds. I have a gut feeling that Saturday’s game against Carmel is the game that is going to for sure wake up the bats of the Noblesville Millers! GO MILLERS!!!
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