Coming just days after winning 3 out of 4 on their Spring Break trip to the Diamond Demarini Invitational in Knoxville, Tennessee, Noblesville was primed and ready to get the Hoosier Crossroads Conference slate started.
4A #10 Fishers 5, 4A #9 Noblesville 1 - (Wed. April 16 at Fishers)
Millers 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 6 1
Tigers 0 1 0 0 1 3 X - 5 11 0
Trevor Salmon took to the hill for Noblesville's second true road game of the year. One week prior to heading to Tennessee, the Millers took a day trip to the Louisville, Kentucky area and faced the state of Kentucky's #1 ranked team at St. Xavier. Noblesville dropped that decision in a hard-fought battle, with Zack St. Pierre tossing a no-hitter, but his efforts on the mound were foiled with the Miller D committing 4 errors that resulted in a 4-2 win for St. X.
Salmon worked 5 2/3 innings, but was roughed up. Fishers got on the board first in the 2nd inning with one run.
The bats of both the Tigers and Millers were quiet through the third and fourth and Noblesville's top of the 5th chance.
Fishers did its best job defending their home field. The Tiger offense got to Salmon and Miller reliever Cory Conway in the 5th and 6th, scoring 1 and 3 in those innings, respectively, to find itself on the better end of a 5-1 victory in the HCC opener for both schools.
Hitting 6-for-25 as a team, there weren't many that highlighted the box score for Noblesville. Vinny Essig drove in the lone Miller run and was also the only NHS hitter with multiple hits (2). Garrett Christman, Dax McLochlin, Zack St. Pierre and Trevor Salmon contributed for the other four Noblesville base knocks.
Oddly enough, Noblesville hitters weren't walked at all, but Fishers pitching struck out the Millers 8 times, including twice each for Andrew Wilson and Connor Christman.
Scattering 9 hits over his 5.2 innings, Salmon allowed 4 runs (3 earned), while walking 3 and fanning another 3.
Conway was thrown into the fire a little bit. The sophomore southpaw saw just 1/3 of an inning, but gave up a pair of hits and one run (earned), along with a walk and a strikeout.
4A #9 Noblesville 9, 4A #10 Fishers 4 - (Thursday, April 17 at The Dunk)
Tigers 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 4 6 1
Millers 0 5 0 1 3 0 X - 9 11 2
Fishers and Noblesville were back at it the following night to play the second game of the season series. With Fishers getting the home W on Wednesday, the Millers hosted and were hungry for an HCC win.
Senior right-hander Garrett Christman was on the mound for Noblesville and was looking to continue his pitching prowess that he displayed five days before against the Christian Academy of Knoxville, who is Tennessee's 2A #2 team.
GC was taken by only slight surprise in the top of the first. Leadoff hitter Jacob Totman took the second pitch he saw for a single to left. Two batters later, catcher Griffin Hulecki drove him in with a single to the right center gap for a 1-0 Tiger lead. Following suit, Taylor Canter dropped a single in the same area in right center for two Tigers on. A couple hitters later with two outs, Christian Chapman drilled a two-run double over the head of Brian McLean in center to plate the second and third runs of the inning for a 3-0 Fishers advantage in just the top of the first.
Have no fear with GC on the bump. The Butler University signee got his comfort zone back in the top of the 2nd. Despite hitting Joe Rura with a pitch, Garrett struck out two of the next four to end the second, including the Fishers battery (Brandon Yoho and Hulecki) both watching strike 3 go by.
Christman striking out three Tigers was a sign to the Noblesville offense. It was time to wake up.
Continuing his hot hitting from his two season debuts in the final two games in Tennessee, Vinny Essig led off the 2nd with a 2-0 double to the wall in right center to ignite the home crowd and the Miller bench.
Essig was joined on the bases by Connor Christman, as he walked on five pitches. Bret Rundle singled to shallow right center to score Vinny from second to get the Millers on the scoreboard.
The younger Christman (Connor) at 2nd and Easton Brock in to pinch run for Rundle at first, NHS was in prime position to score (again).
Andrew Wilson hit into a fielder's choice, that forced Brock out at second for out #2.
Brian McLean walked to load the bags full of Millers and he was followed by the elder Christman (Garrett) getting the free pass to first and loading the bases once again.
The next pitch was smacked to the fence in center on one hop by Dax McLochlin for a three-run double, scoring Wilson, B-Mc and Garrett Christman for a 5-3 Noblesville lead, one that they wouldn't give back to the visitors for the rest of the night.
Christman kept Fishers in-check for the remainder of the game, keeping the game out of reach for the Tigers. Over the final five frames, Garrett K'd the remaining four of his 7 total and also only allowed two more hits.
Noblesville added another run in the 4th. Mike Chakiry was now in his second full inning of relieving starter Brandon Yoho (3-0) and had no idea what he had in store.
Andrew Wilson was hungry for a hit and that's exactly what he got. Chakiry is a fastball pitcher and he served one up right down the middle for the senior left fielder. AW took his swing and the ball looked like it had been let go from a sling shot. Instead, it was Wilson's sweet stroke that lit into the ball and just like that, it was over the left field fence to slightly extend the Miller lead to 6-3.
The Millers weren't done scoring.
Zack St. Pierre doubled to deep center on the first pitch of the 5th. Vinny Essig laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt that got ZSP to third and Essig safe at first. Runners at the corners. After Salmon struck out, Connor Christman slapped a single over the head of 3B Joe Michel, driving in St. Pierre for a 7-3 score.
Five pitches later, Bret Rundle shot a single into shallow left to send Essig home. Connor crossed home when his older brother Garrett was walked to put the Millers up 9-3.
The sixth was pretty much the last-ditch effort that Fishers really put forth. Chapman led off with a walk and he eventually scored when Rura reached on an error by Connor Christman at third.
That became the final score of 9-4 for a Noblesville victory, splitting the HCC series at 1-1.
The W moved Noblesville's record to 7-3 (1-1 HCC), but more importantly it dropped Fishers to 9-1-1 (1-1 HCC) for their first loss of the 2014 season.
No comments:
Post a Comment