The weather forecasted for Thursday, April 11 was for the rains from Wednesday to keep drenching the Noblesville and Fishers area, preventing the two from opening up conference play normally. On Wednesday, the Millers and Tigers were slated to get together at Noblesville's Dunker Field. Both programs agreed that it was a great idea to play both games on the same night, because of Thursday's weather conditions wouldn't be any better. After getting rained out Wednesday at Noblesville and then the games were moved to Fishers Thursday also were rained out, we finally were able to get both games in on Friday evening in a doubleheader at Noblesville.
Game 1 - Noblesville 2, Fishers 1 (at The Dunk):
Zach St. Pierre took the mound for Noblesville for their doubleheader with Fishers to open up Hoosier Crossroads Conference play and obviously had just one thing on his mind and that was shutting down the Tigers' bats.
It took no time at all for Noblesville's anxious bats to get going. TJ Lindstrand smoked the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first, over the head of centerfielder Conner Christiansen. Brian McLean followed suit by singling up the middle to get TJ to third. Garrett Christman drove Lindstrand home for an early 1-0 Miller lead. Luke Porter also joined the hit parade two give NHS four straight hits. Porter was doubled up when Nick Miller lined out to Brandon Yoho at the mound.
St. Pierre was cruising through the first couple innings. Yoho belted a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall to help his own cause, tying the game at 1-1.
McLean and Christman each singled again, respectively, to start the Miller half of the 3rd. They both advanced into scoring position at 2nd and 3rd because Yoho balked with Porter at the plate. With Nick Miller reached on an error by SS Garrett Schlotter, allowing Christman to cross home for the game-winning run for a 2-1 Noblesville win.
ZSP only had the two hits from the bat of Yoho, but otherwise was unblemished during his seven innings of work. He struck out five and walked just one. Most importantly, St. Pierre forced 8 pop outs and 4 groundouts to keep Fishers under control at the plate and is now 3-0 to lead Noblesville's starting pitching.
Christman went 3-3 with 3 singles, scored a run and the lone RBI for the Millers, while also having four putouts defensively. McLean was 2-3 and Lindstrand was 1-3 and scored the other run.
Game 2 - Noblesville 13, Fishers 1 (5 innings):
In game #2 of the doubleheader, Noblesville's bats got bigger and better. McLean continued his dominance at the dish, singling to left center on a 1-1 pitch from Nathaniel Rhodes. Christman singled to get aboard, moving McLean to 3rd. Porter hit a sacrifice fly to right to get McLean home for the first Miller run of the game.
TJ Lindstrand led off the top of the third and sent another double over Christiansen's head in center. McLean kept his hot hitting up with a beautifully dropped down bunt single to get Lindstrand to third. Two batters later, Luke Porter doubled down the right field line, scoring both TJ and B-Mac for a 3-1 Noblesville lead that they would only build on.
The bottom third of the Fishers order got it going for what little fight the Tigers showed in this nightcap. Yoho and Mike Chakrey both singled to left and Connor Christiansen was hit by a Trevor Salmon pitch to load the bags up. Fishers was only able to get one run in. Derek Ely got on base with a bunt single to score Yoho for a 3-1 Tiger deficit.
Andrew Wilson got his second hit of the game to start off the 4th. Third baseman Cole Dalton overthrew Chakrey at first, giving Wilson second base easily. Matt Swearingen pinch ran for Wilson and advanced to 3rd on St. Pierre's ground out. Swearingen scored on a Lindstrand sacrifice fly to right to put Noblesville up 4-1 thru four.
A steady misting rain had started to fall and it was time that Noblesville ended this game and put this HCC series to bed in grand fashion.
Garrett Christman singled up the middle to lead off the top of the 5th. Derek Ely started the 5th on the mound for the Tigers and he might wish that he hadn't been brought in to face the Millers. Luke Porter reached on an error by Schlotter at short. Nick Miller's bunt single loaded the bases, but no sooner that they got loaded that Trevor Salmon lit up an Ely pitch and sent it to deep right center and scored Christman, Porter and Miller for a three-run double. The next pitch was Ely's last, as Vinny Essig went up the middle to drive Salmon in for an 8-1 NHS cushion.
Noblesville still had more work to do on Fishers in the 5th.
With Essig on, Cory Reed came in as the third pitcher in five innings for the Tigers. Right away, Wilson flew out to left and advanced Vinny to 2nd. Zach St. Pierre walked and Lindstrand was hit by a pitch. Brian McLean was the ninth hitter of the inning for the Millers, singling for his third hit of the game and driving Essig home.
Bases were again loaded. Christman flew out to center for a sacrifice fly to score St. Pierre to make it 10-1. One pitch later, Porter smacked his second two-run double to the outfield, plating Lindstrand and McLean. Nick Miller reached on a throwing error by Reed on the mound, allowing Porter to trot home from third and produced the final score of 13-1 for Noblesville.
Salmon finished off Fishers by striking out the first and sixth hitters he faced in the 5th. This gave Noblesville a doubleheader sweep and series win over the Fishers Tigers.
Porter led the Miller hitting onslaught with 5 RBIs and a couple runs scored. McLean went 3-4 and scored 3 runs while driving in another. Christman had a 2-4 night with a run and an RBI. Lindstrand kept his bat going with a 1-3 night, scoring twice. Andrew Wilson had two hits and Trevor Salmon chipped in 3 RBIs on his three-run double, while striking out 6 Tigers in five innings of work.
Noblesville now finds itself at 8-1 overall and 2-0 in Hoosier Crossroads Conference play and will continue league games on Monday at Brownsburg at 6pm, followed by hosting the Bulldogs on Tuesday at The Dunk at 6pm.
White River Rivalry - Carmel 10, Noblesville 6 (at Hartman Field, Carmel):
It's always a flip of a coin when Noblesville and Carmel meet up. You never know who's going to win. The Millers came over to Carmel on a pretty big high note. Winners of five in a row, they were looking to continue their streak against their county rivals in the annual White River Rivalry game in the Battle for the Oar. Carmel was also coming in confident with a doubleheader sweep of defending 4A State Champion Lake Central last Saturday at home.
Luke Porter led Noblesville at the plate once again, going 2-4 with an RBI and run scored. A majority of the Miller lineup was hitting the ball, but it took until the 4th inning before NHS was able to get their first hit.
Carmel had three good innings at the plate. They scored four in the 3rd and another pair in the 4th to lead 6-2 after four. They Greyhounds pretty much put this one out of reach in the bottom of the 6th with another 4-spot to extend their cushion to 10-3. Noblesville gave it one last effort and put 3 on the board, but that wasn't enough as Carmel kept the White River Rivalry game's Oar with a 10-6 win over the Millers.
The loss drops Noblesville to 8-2 (2-0 HCC) on the young season. Millerball looks to get things back on track Monday night with a trip to Brownsburg (3-2, 0-1 HCC) at 6pm. The series continues Tuesday night at The Dunk in Noblesville at 6pm. Carmel improves to 6-2 and stays home Wednesday to host Westfield at 5pm.
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