Game 1: Noblesville 13, Twin Lakes 3 (5 innings)
In an effort to save his starting pitching for the remaining four HCC games left on the slate, Noblesville head coach Justin Keever opened up the opportunity for his bullpen to get some work that it might possibly need down the tournament trail later this month and into June. Instead of facing Mississinewa in the first game, like the past couple years, the Millers decided they wanted to face Keever's alma mater in the Twin Lakes Indians to start the day off.
Sophomore middle reliever Will Plumer got the nod for the Millers in the opening game of the 2013 Noblesville Classic. It was a shaky start for southpaw, but he managed to right the ship as the game went on.
Cole Guingrich laced the first ball Plumer pitched him to shallow left center. Guingrich was soon after forced out at 2nd on a Jacob Shane grounder to Will at the mound. Shane reached on a fielder's choice. Zach Diener singled to right on the ground for two on for Twin Lakes. Kole Young walked to load the bases full of Indians. Andrew Topp knotched a single of his own, driving home Jacob Shane for the first run of the day and a 1-0 Twin Lakes lead. Two hitters later, Derek Roudebush took a two-run single to the outfield and put the host Millers on their heels right away and down 3-0 before they even came up to bat.
That didn't phase Noblesville at all, to say the least.
Garrett Christman got things started with a one-out, 2-0 "Texas leaguer" single to left. GC advanced to second passed ball on the first pitch to Luke Porter. Two pitches later, Porter walked for runners at the corners for NHS. TJ Lindstrand's first pitch of his first at-bat was a wild pitch that allowed Christman home with ease, cutting the Indians' lead to 3-1 and Porter getting to 2nd. Connor Christman (hit by pitch) and Nick Miller (walk) loaded the bases. Andrew Wilson continued the free pass parade, walking and getting Porter home to put Twin Lakes only up 3-2 after the 1st.
Plumer completely settled down mentally and sent the Indians down 1-2-3 with two fly outs and a groundout to make quick work in the 2nd, throwing just 9 pitches.
Getting the start behind the plate, catcher Bret Rundle roped a leadoff 1-2 triple into the right field corner off Zach Diener. Garrett Christman walked next. Just after, Porter singled home Rundle to tie things 3-3 with one out. GC got to 3rd on Porter's hit and was sent home on a balk by Diener for what would turn out to be the game-winning run. Lindstrand reached on an error by 3B McHale Gardiner, scoring Porter on the play. Connor Christman joined in the production with an RBI-double to left to plate Lindstrand. Miller hit a sacrifice fly for the second out, but that got Connor home for a 7-3 Noblesville lead through two.
Plumer was in a groove again in the third, sending Twin Lakes down in order again.
Brian McLean muscled a leadoff single up the middle and into center. The sophomore RF stole 2nd and was driven home by Lindstrand. TJ stole swiped second and scored on Connor Christman's RBI-single. That gave the Millers two more runs in the third and a 9-3 cushion.
Plumer allowed just a leadoff hit to Gardiner in the top of the fourth, but then struck out two consecutive hitters and forced the final batter of the inning to ground out to him at the mound.
Dax McLochlin took his turn to put something positive on the board with a double down the left field line, hitting the chalk line for a leadoff double. Rundle moved Dax to 3rd with a single up the middle for runners on the corners. McLean drove in McLochlin. Garrett Christman drove an Andrew Topp pitch to deep right center, which got Rundle and McLean home to get the Millers up 12-3 after four.
It didn't take long in the top of the fourth for NHS freshman reliever Cory Conway to shut down Twin Lakes for good. Like Plumer's 4th, Conway also allowed a leadoff single, but quickly got three straight outs with a fly out to left and two strikeouts to his credit.
Nick Miller led off the fifth by taking a ball on the ground to second, but it was too much for Tucker Reyes to handle, getting Miller on base via the error. Two at-bats later, Dax walked for two Millers on. The Millers were trying to 10-run the Indians to give themselves more rest before coming back to play for the championship. With two outs, they were determined. McLean sailed a ball into left center, scoring pinch-runner Matt Swearingen and Noblesville was victorious with a 13-3 route in 5 innings over Twin Lakes.
Game 2: Mississinewa 13, Hamilton Heights 4
Normally, it's the all-Hamilton county matchup between Hamilton Heights and Noblesville for the Noblesville Classic title, but that wasn't the way that Mississinewa planned their day in Noblesville, Indiana to be. Making the trip from Gas City, the Indians of Mississinewa were there to make their presence known and make a day of it in Noblesville.
Mississinewa got on the scoreboard first. Catcher Trey Alston doubled to lead off the 2nd and scored on a passed ball to go up 1-0 on Hamilton Heights.
The Indians added to their total in the top of the 4th, all with two outs. Chris Cooper climbed aboard with an infield single and was immediately moved over to third with a double to left by DH Cory Markley. The two were driven home by leadoff hitter Austin Branock on his double to center for a 3-0 Indian lead.
Hamilton Heights' bats finally came to life in the bottom of the fourth. Lukas Sipe doubled to lead off and was driven in by Landon Cunningham on a double of his own to break the shutout and trail just 4-1 through four.
Just like that, the Huskies were back in the game. Jeff Carr struck out swinging, but strike three got away from Alston behind the plate and Carr made it to first. Ethan Engelhardt singled his way on and Carr was on the move to 3rd. Pitcher Phoenix Cox tried to help his own cause by driving home Carr with an RBI-single. Engelhardt scored on a Lukas Sipe sac fly to center and with a Branock error at short, that allowed Cox to score and knot things 4-4.
The next few innings belonged to Mississinewa, putting an exclamation point on this game with 9 runs combined in the 6th and 7th.
Aaron Arrendale singled down the line past third and quickly jogged down to second on a passed ball. He scored on Markley's single to right center to give the Indians the lead they wouldn't give up. Jacob Hammel committed an error at short that got Branock on. Markley touched home on Payton Scott's single. Then, Branock and Scott both crossed the plate on Alex Morrison's two-run double, capping off the scoring in the 6th, helping Mississinewa to bust this one open, 9-4.
They made sure that Hamilton Heights wouldn't have any chance to come back. The Indians scored four more runs in the top of the 7th, while only mustering one hit, but walked twice and got three hitters on by fielder's choice. Those four runs would make a statement and give Mississinewa a 13-4 dominating win to advance to the championship against Noblesville.
Consolation Game: Hamilton Heights 18, Twin Lakes 10
The Consolation game ended up being more like a football score than a baseball game's outcome. There were seven different frames that involved multiple runs being scored.
Twin Lakes scored five in the 3rd, three in the 4th and a pair of runs in the 5th for their 10-run total.
Hamilton Heights had that much more going on with their bats that the Indians. A six-run 4th, five-run 5th and three-run 7th to put this icing on this one.
It turned out to be, no joke, one of the worst defensively played baseball games that I've ever seen. And, I don't think I'm alone with this one.
Twin Lakes committed 6 errors and Hamilton Heights 2, as there were only 27 combined hits with the 28 runs that were scored.
Zach Diener (4 hits) and Kole Young (3) led the Indians offensively, along with McHale Gardiner (3), Cole Guingrich (2) and Young (2) driving in seven of Twin Lakes' 10 runs.
The Huskies were able to get six hitters in the box score with multiple hits. Ethan Engelhardt, Jake Pickett and Christian McGill all three had three-hit games, while Lukas Sipe, Sam Reel and Jacob Hammel each had two hits.
Championship game: Noblesville 8, Mississinewa 1
The Millers were back in black and ready to defend their home turf at The Dunk.
Luke Porter got the call to take to the mound in his first stint as a starting pitcher. Luke couldn't have been more dialed in than he was on that pitching rubber.
Three K's through the first couple innings was an okay start, but it was obvious that LP wasn't satisfied. Alex Morrison led off the 2nd with a single and trotted home on an Aaron Arrendale groundout to first for Mississinewa's lone run.
From the third through fifth innings, Porter struck out six more Indians for 9 punch outs in his 5 innings of work.
The Miller bats finally got going in the third after Trey Alston sent them down 1-2-3 in the first and second.
Andrew Wilson led the third off with a walk on four straight pitches. Dax McLochlin singled to give the Millers two on with no outs and Zach St. Pierre bunted his way on to load the bases. Brian McLean reached via an error by second baseman Ian Mill and Garrett Christman by fielder's choice, but this was after Wilson, McLochlin and St. Pierre all scored for a 3-1 Noblesville takeover in the 3rd.
Back at it in the 4th, Nick Miller led off with a single to left, but was caught stealing on a throw down to Austin Branock at second, squandering a base runner. Wilson walked again, Dax singled (again) and St. Pierre walked for three ducks on the pond for McLean with no outs. B-Mac grounded to second and St. P was forced out at second and McLean to first, scoring Wilson on the play. That left the door open for the elder Christman to continue his great day. Sure enough, GC drilled a two-run double on one hop to center to drive in Dax and McLean for a 6-1 cushion for the hosts.
Dax's older brother Drew McLochlin took the ball and pitched the 6th and only needed nine pitches, forcing two fly outs and a ground out.
In the bottom of the inning, the Miller bats put the icing on the 2013 Noblesville Classic championship game.
Dax led the last of the 6th off with his third hit of the game. Pinch-hitter Easton Brock got on base on an error by right fielder Cory Markley. McLean grounded out to short to send Dax home for a 7-1 advantage. Garrett drove in his third run of the game with a single to center, sending Easton home for the final score of 8-1 and a 2013 Noblesville Classic title for the Millers.
Trevor Salmon came on in the 7th to get an inning of work and struck out two Indians and forced Brandon Carnall to pop up to end the game.
2013 Noblesville Classic All-Tournament Team:
P Luke Porter (N): 5 IP, 9 K's, 2H, run (ER), (5 putouts, 2 assists); 1-5, 2 BB, RBI, 2 runs
P Will Plumer (N): 4 IP, 3 K's, 3 R (3 ER), 5H, 2 assists
P Aaron Arrendale (M): 4 IP, 5 K's, R (ER), 4H
C TJ Lindstrand (N): 2-6, RBI, 2 runs, 2 SBs
1B Payton Scott (M): 3-8, 2B, RBI, R (11 putouts)
2B Dax McLochlin (N): 4-5, 2B, 3 singles, 4 runs, SB, (assist)
3B Alex Morrison (M): 3-8, 4 RBIs, 2 runs, 2B, (3 assists)
SS Garrett Christman (N): 4-7, 5 RBIs, 2 runs, 2 SBs, 2 singles, (3 putouts, assist)
INF Zach Diener (TL): 5-8, 3 runs, 5 singles, RBI, (11 putouts, assist)
LF Sam Reel (HH): 3-8, run, 3 singles
CF Ethan Engelhardt (HH): 4-6, 5 runs, 2B, 3 singles
RF Brian McLean (N): 3-8, 3 RBIs, 3 runs, SB, GW-RBI vs. Twin Lakes, (2 putouts)
OF Cole Guingrich (TL): 3-7, 2 RBIs, run, 2B, 2 singles, SB
Util. Jake Pickett (HH): 3-8, 4 RBIs, run, (9 putouts)
DH Cory Markley (M): 2-6, 3 runs, RBI, 2B (putout)
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