The Noblesville Millers took their spring break and headed south to Farragut High School in Knoxville, Tennessee to the biggest high school baseball showcase at the Farragut Invitational.
Thursday night's tournament opener vs. Tennessee's #5 ranked Hardin Valley Academy was rained out and would not be made up the rest of the weekend.
By the time Friday afternoon came around, the Millers were getting pretty anxious to get on the field and showcase why it is that they come to the Farragut Invitational every spring.
Noblesville 5, #6 Science Hill (TN) 4
The first action for Noblesville came against Science Hill, who is Tennessee's #6 ranked team. Science Hill had the Millers on their heels with a three-run top of the second. NHS battled back with one in the bottom of 2 to trail 3-1.
Back at it in the top of the 3rd, the Hilltoppers from Johnson City tacked on their final run before Noblesville got their bats back out to make their presence known.
Millerball showed what they had and put two on the scoreboard in the last of the third, followed by one run each in the fourth and fifth. A double by TJ Lindstrand, a triple from Andrew Wilson, and more importantly, home runs by Luke Porter and Zach St. Pierre gave Noblesville the offensive boost needed to comeback to beat Tennessee's 6th-ranked Hilltoppers, 5-4.
Zach St. Pierre got the win on the mound and Drew McLochlin earned his second save of the season.
Noblesville 6, #1 Lexington Catholic (KY) 5
The Millers had the privilege of playing two games on Friday afternoon. In the words of Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, "let's play two!" I'm sure Noblesville jumped at the chance to play two games, especially against two teams ranked in their state's top 10. NHS met up with Kentucky's #1 team in the Lexington Catholic Knights.
Lexington Catholic wasted no time jumping on the Millers with three in the top of the 1st and one more in the second for an early 4-0 lead for the Knights.
Noblesville scored one in the third and a pair more in the fourth to cut Lexington Catholic's lead to 4-3 after four.
LC got one more run in the 5th before their bats were silenced by Miller pitching. This brought on the rally that the Knights had no idea was coming. In the bottom of the 7th, sophomore Vinny Essig knocked a game-winning, walk-off single to the outfield, capping off three-run 7th and a second NHS comeback win of the day.
Sophomore relief pitcher Will Plumer was the winner, with his late-inning heroics.
Noblesville 12, Upper Arlington (OH) 0
At this point of the Millers' spring break trip, they were riding high off of a pair of comeback wins over the #6 team from Tennessee (Science Hill) and Kentucky's #1 squad (Lexington Catholic). Nothing was going to stop Noblesville from leaving Knoxville with three wins to add to their 3-1 record going into the Farragut Invitational.
Not to take anything away from a very successful baseball program like Upper Arlington's, but it really didn't take much to defeat the Golden Bears on Saturday, April 6. Continuing where they left off Friday night, the Millers made real quick work of Upper Arlington. Noblesville sent one of Ohio's finest from Columbus packing much earlier than they anticipated.
This became a more spread out offensive effort for the Millers. One in the first probably would have been enough, but Noblesville put together a three-run 2nd and an 8-spot on the board in the 3rd to fully secure a 12-0 win in 5 innings over the Upper Arlington Golden Bears.
Garrett Christman got the win with ease in this blowout affair.
Noblesville (6-1) returns home this week on Wednesday to face the Fishers Tigers to open up Hoosier Crossroads Conference play. First pitch is at 6 p.m. The Millers and Tigers will finish their home-and-home conference series with Fishers on Thursday at 6 p.m. NHS will conclude the week with the White River Rivalry and the battle for the oar as they'll visit the Carmel Greyhounds on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Keep your eyes peeled for my blog all season long to follow Noblesville Miller baseball and you can also follow me on Twitter at @irishcub4life.
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