Millers and Bulldogs each win on road for HCC series split

Noblesville 6, Brownsburg 5 (at Brownsburg): Monday, April 15

Hits were tough to come by. The Millers were able to get seven off Bulldog pitching, including two from catcher TJ Lindstrand, while DH Trevor Salmon and Luke Porter each singled in a pair of runs for Noblesville.

Noblesville was able to muster up 5 runs in the 4th inning to take a 6-4 that it wouldn't give back to Brownsburg. The Bulldogs gave it one final push in the last of the seventh with a run, but it wasn't enough as Noblesville got a huge conference road win, 6-5.

Garrett Christman threw seven strong innings and also struck out 7 Bulldogs.

Brownsburg 3, Noblesville 2 (at The Dunk): Wednesday, April 17

Being rained out on Tuesday night, the Millers and Bulldogs were pretty anxious to continue their Hoosier Crossroads Conference series at The Dunk in Noblesville. The Millers were in prime position to sweep the two-game series with their top pitcher Zach St. Pierre (3-0) on the mound.

Vinny Essig took the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the 2nd over Sampen's head at 3rd for a single. Vinny's lead off first was a little bigger than he could bargain to take against the left-handed Ty McCoy. Like a lot of southpaws, McCoy had a pretty quick flick over to first. He showed Essig that he wasn't messing around and picked Vinny off of first base for the 2nd out.

Through two innings, ZSP allowed just one hit and seemed pretty dialed in. Brownsburg was able to strike first. Caleb Sampen led off and took a 2-2 pitch opposite field to right. Garrett Isch bunted to St. Pierre for the first out, advancing Sampen to 2nd. A couple hitters later, Tyler Houston drilled an RBI-single to center, scoring Sampen for a 1-0 Bulldogs edge.

Going down 1-2-3 in the 3rd, the Miller started the bottom of the 4th off hitting. Garrett Christman singled to left center, but didn't learn much from McCoy's mound moves from the previous inning. GC was picked off after he was caught with too big of a lead. McCoy easily tossed to Sam Comer at first and Comer to Haden Shipman at 2nd for out number one. Luke Porter walked, then stole 2nd, but shortly after was out on a play at the plate.

Through four innings, Noblesville had three different base runners picked off or caught stealing. Just a complete lack of focus when you're dealing with a left-handed pitcher.

The same thing happened again with a runner on base for the Millers. Essig singled to right center, but was caught sleeping and a half step behind at 1st and was picked off again by McCoy. As frustrated as Vinny was, he had to be brought back around and that was done by 3rd base/hitting coach Kevin Fitzgerald.

Brownsburg felt they piddled around enough against St. Pierre. Haden Shipman took a one out, 2-0 pitch to center over the head of Nick Miller for a double. Hunter Leum followed with a double of his own to drive Shipman home for a 2-0 Bulldog lead. Kyle Yeager grounded out to 3rd for the second out, but more importantly to help Leum to cross home for a 3-0 cushion. Consecutive singles by Cody Gill and Sam Comer were the last two hitters that St. Pierre would face.

Noblesville had plans to put together a comeback in the sixth and hopefully close things out in the 7th inning. McCoy hit TJ Lindstrand with a 3-1 pitch to lead off the last of the 6th. Brian McLean singled to put two runners on. Garrett Christman smacked a single of his own to load the bases. With the bags full, it set up a perfect opportunity for Luke Porter. Luke drilled a two-run double to deep left center, driving home both Lindstrand and McLean to cut the Brownsburg lead to 3-2. After that, the Millers would fly out to right twice and Essig struck out. NHS got what they could off McCoy in the first four at-bats of the 6th, but when he was relieved by Haden Shipman, Noblesville was stymied by the velocity and movement of Shipman's fastball and slider.

Drew McLochlin came in out of the Miller bullpen to record the third out of the sixth inning and also forced three consecutive groundouts in the top of the 7th.

One last chance for Noblesville came in the bottom of the seventh. Pinch-hitter Bret Rundle struck out looking and TJ Lindstrand K'd swinging for two quick strikeouts for Shipman. McLean then smacked a single to right and stole second base with Christman at the plate. Fighting off Shipman, Garrett Christman flew out to left for the final out of the game, giving Brownsburg a 3-2 victory and a HCC series split for the two conference rivals.

DH Cody Gill led Brownsburg with two of their eight hits, while six Bulldogs each had one hit.

Brian McLean led the Millers at the plate with a 3-4 performance. Garrett Christman and Vinny Essig both knotted two hits a piece and Luke Porter drove in both Noblesville runs.

Noblesville (9-3, 3-1 HCC) continues its conference schedule on Friday, April 19 on the road at Zionsville with the first pitch at 6pm. The series concludes on Saturday at 11am at The Dunk in Noblesville. Thursday's home game was rained out and rescheduled for Saturday.