In a Hoosier Crossroads Conference series that is known for being split 1-1 each and every year, there are those rare seasons that one team will actually pull off the sweep. I'm guessing that it hasn't happened in a few years, but it did in 2014.
After falling in a heartbreaker in the Battle for The Oar vs. Carmel 5-4 on Saturday night at The Dunk, Noblesville knew they had to get back on track and couldn't lose focus of the task at hand. It was time to concentrate on Brownsburg and forget about Carmel now until Sectionals.
That must have been a big part of head coach Justin Keever's pre-game speech that he gave his squad as they kneeled deep down the left field line prior to the starting lineups.
4A #14 Noblesville 17, 4A #9 Brownsburg 7 (6 inn.) - (Monday, April 21 - at The Dunk)
Brownsburg 2 2 0 0 3 0 - 7 6 4
Noblesville 3 1 5 4 2 2 - 17 17 3
Right out of the gate, Brownsburg wanted to prove why they've kept themselves in the Top 10 of the 4A rankings throughout the first portion of the 2014 campaign. Coming into this series with Noblesville, the Bulldogs were 5-1 (1-1 HCC), but that was about to be changed.
The Bulldogs struck first blood and did it as quick as they could on senior Miller southpaw Trevor Salmon.
Tyler Houston took Salmon's second pitch for a single and then reached second base on an error by SS Garrett Christman. Houston scored on a passed ball, that was a swinging third strike by Cody Gill that allowed Houston home for a 1-0 BBurg lead.
Gill got doubled off of first base when Jacson McGowan lined out to Vinny Essig at second and Essig quickly whipped his throw to Dax McLochlin at first for two quick outs.
Anthony Travelsted walked and scored when catcher Brooks Bireley doubled on the fly into the right field corner to give Brownsburg a 2-0 advantage.
Have no fear. The Millers' bats would should up and let Brownsburg know whose field it was.
Andrew Wilson showed that he's one of the best leadoff hitters in the state of Indiana by dropping a leadoff single into left center. Brian McLean followed suit with a single. Wilson and McLean both moved up a base during McLean's hit. Second baseman Austin Jones threw the ball in the dirt for an E-4 on paper and runners at second and third with no outs for the Millers.
Wilson scampered home on a passed ball and McLean crossed home on a single to center by Garrett Christman for a quick tie at 2-2.
A few hitters later, Salmon reached on an infield single and drove in Christman to put Noblesville up 3-2 after one full frame.
Brownsburg fought back and regained the lead in the top of the 2nd. Tyler Westrich walked with one out and Houston was hit by a Salmon pitch to give the Bulldogs a pair of base runners aboard. Gill singled, but it wasn't long enough to score either runner and now the bases were loaded. McGowan then hit a two-run single to give the guests the lead at 4-3 through just three half innings.
The Millers decided that they wanted to tie the game up again and keep it interesting, for the time being.
After Bret Rundle struck out, Wilson doubled to center on one hop. He scored a minute later when the eldest Christman (Garrett) got on-base on the second Austin Jones error of the game. Just like that, we were once again tied, 4-4.
At this point, Salmon was more comfortable on the mound and he was starting to paint the outside and inside corners of the plate more often than the Bulldogs anticipated.
Trevor struck out Bireley and first baseman Sam Comer for a couple fast outs. Jones walked, but got overzealous on the bases and Rundle gunned him down at 2nd for the third out.
Essig singled to lead off the Miller half of the 3rd and was able to make it to second when Houston committed an error in center on the throw. Salmon walked for runners on first and second. Matt Swearingen became Salmon's pinch runner. Connor Christman joined the hit party and drilled a two-run double up the middle to send Vinny and Swearingen home and it was 6-4 NHS.
Wilson got hit by a pitch to keep his on-base percentage rising. McLean notched an RBI with a single, scoring Connor from second for a 7-4 Miller lead.
Garrett Christman drove in a couple more runs (Wilson and McLean) to cap off a five-run 3rd inning to put Noblesville up 9-4.
Through just 2.2 innings, Bulldog starter Triston Polley got rocked by Noblesville hitters for 9 runs on 10 hits and it probably didn't help that his defense committed 4 errors behind him.
Michael Klayer was forced onto the mound for head coach Eric Mattingly. But, it obviously didn't matter who Brownsburg put on the hill, the Millers were in an absolute zone at the plate.
Here came four more runs from the Miller bats in the 4th.
Vinny Essig got aboard with a leadoff walk. Salmon singled to shallow left for two on. Zack St. Pierre dropped down a perfect bunt single to load the bases. Essig scored when Connor Christman grounded out to first. Bret Rundle cleared Swearingen (Salmon's pinch runner) and St. Pierre for an 12-4 Miller score.
Noblesville continued to increase the gap on the scoreboard pretty easily off of Klayer.
Wilson hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored Easton Brock (Rundle's pinch runner) from 3rd. Brock advanced to third from a balk by Klayer to get into better scoring position. The Millers were well in control of this one with a 13-4 lead through five innings.
The fifth inning would be Salmon's last and he'd have to fight through it.
Salmon gave up three runs in the fifth, but two got on base by defensive error.
The Miller offense wanted to end this game as soon as it could. The bottom of the 5th saw NHS put another couple up on the left field scoreboard. Dax McLochlin singled to left center with one out to get things going. Brady Lutz came in to pinch run and stole second right away. Essig and Salmon both walked and that filled the bags with Millers. Lutz scored on a passed ball soon after he stood on third. For the third straight inning, Connor Christman drove in a run. The sophomore third baseman punched an RBI-single on the ground up the middle to send Essig home from second for a 15-7 cushion.
On a mission in the last of the 6th, Wilson singled to lead off. He got to 2nd on a passed ball. Then, after McLean walked, he and Wilson put the double-steal on to give Noblesville 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Finally, to put this one to bed, Dax McLochlin hit a walk-off two-run single up the middle into center for a 17-7 Miller victory in 6 innings.
The Christman brothers accounted for driving in 7 of the 14 runs driven in, Connor with 4 and Garrett 3 RBIs. Andrew Wilson and Dax McLochlin each tallied 3 hits, while four other Millers had two hits (Salmon, McLean, Garrett and Connor Christman).
Salmon wound up with 7 strikeouts, while allowing 7 runs and 5 hits in his 6 innings to secure the win.
4A #14 Noblesville 3, 4A #9 Brownsburg 2 - (Tuesday, April 22 at Brownsburg)
Millers 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 - 3 7 1
Bulldogs 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 2
Hitting the road to Brownsburg was assumed to be a challenge as it usually is. It's always a nip/tuck, one-run affair. It becomes a chess match and that's exactly what happened Tuesday night on the Bulldogs' home field. Getting beat on the road by 10 wasn't exactly how Brownsburg thought they would start their week.
Fortunately, it was how Noblesville envisioned it.
Down 2-0 after Brownsburg struck first in the bottom of the 2nd, it had to become a mental thing with Garrett Christman and the Bulldog hitters. After allowing two runs in the second, GC was in control on the mound the rest of the way. He went the distance for a strong 7 innings, striking out 7 and giving up just 5 hits.
Looking at the Noblesville box score, it wasn't real obvious how they got the big road victory, aside from Christman's pitching numbers.
Dax McLochlin and Trevor Salmon each had two of Noblesville's 7 total hits, while Brian McLean, Garrett Christman and Vinny Essig made up for the remaining three Miller hits. Andrew Wilson, Essig and Matt Swearingen (as a pinch runner) score the three NHS runs.
This series sweep for Noblesville moves their overall record to 9-4 and HCC mark to 3-1.
Next, they welcome in Zionsville on Thursday, April 24 to The Dunk and then hit the road to Zionsville for a midday game in Zionsville at 12:30 on Saturday, April 26.
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