Noblesville brought a pretty faithful crowd for their semifinal win over Homestead in the afternoon and there were many more than made the trip to Lafayette's Loeb Stadium for the Regional Championship game vs. the Carroll Chargers from Allen county.
Carroll pitched their ace Taylor Goshen in their semifinal win over McCutcheon, 5-1, in the first semifinal of the day. That meant that the Chargers' #2 pitcher Grant Inman would be called upon to face Noblesville for the Regional title.
The Millers sent senior lefty Trevor Salmon (8-3) to the mound, just like they did on Tuesday night for the Sectional 8 championship game vs. Hamilton Southeastern.
4A #8 Noblesville 7, Carroll (Allen) 4 - (Regional Championship: Loeb Stadium, Lafayette)
Chargers 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 4 8 1
Millers 1 0 4 2 0 0 x - 7 7 0
The top of the order got right to work on Trevor Salmon in the first and it wasn't pretty. Unfortunately for Trevor, the Chargers chased him after 1/3 of an inning.
Cory Conway came on for his second appearance of the day in the first, tossing just four pitches and forcing Taylor Goshen into a 6-3 double play to end the first. The sophomore crafty lefty took down the 8-9-1 hitters in the Carroll order in the 2nd, striking out the side for his 10th strikeout of the day.
Cameron Kohli walked to lead off and Cole McCray singled to get two on right away. Grant Inman would bring those two around with a double to the wall in deep right center and it was already 2-0 Carroll. Travis Snyder showed why he bats cleanup, as he doubled to left to bring Inman in to give the Chargers a 3-0 lead before Noblesville had even come to bat.
Andrew Wilson was antsy coming to the plate in the Millers' half of the first and it showed. Noblesville's leadoff man belted a 2-1 pitch over the plate to the right center wall on the fly for a triple to fire up the black and gold clad Miller fans in attendance. Wilson scored two hitters later when Garrett Christman grounded out to second for the second out of the inning and cutting the Carroll lead to 3-1 after one.
Coach Ginder's Chargers literally got one more good inning at the dish. Conway was back on the bump for another inning and that's when the Chargers found a small kind in Cory's armor. CC gave up a one out walk to Inman. Snyder again delivered a double, but this time it was to right center, scoring Inman to put Carroll up 4-1 through 2 1/2.
The top of the third was the point when the Millers got in the head of Inman and he had no idea that it was coming.
Wilson would lead off for the second time in three innings and he showed Inman some patience, walking in a very smart plate appearance. After McLean grounded out, GC singled to the gap in right center, pushing Wilson to third and giving Essig runners at the corners with just one out. Vinny hit a nice ball to left, but it wasn't deep enough for him to go yard, scoring Wilson on the play for a sacrifice fly.
St. Pierre and Dax McLochlin kept it rolling in the 3rd by each walking to load the bases. Easton Brock was then hit by a 3-1 pitch to bring Christman home to make it a one run game at 4-3.
Connor Christman singled to short on a slow dribbler and beat out the throw that went over the head of first baseman Matt Meihls, getting Connor to second with ease. St. Pierre and McLochlin were the third and fourth runs of the 3rd to get Noblesville on top 5-4 after three.
With two down in the top of the 3rd, Zack St. Pierre came out of right field and got the ball from Coach Keever at the mound. It's been a couple weeks since St. P pitched, but that was the furthest thing from Zack's mind.
St. Pierre would stay focused on the hill for the 4th through 6th innings, plus the first two hitters in the 7th.
Noblesville's bats added some insurance in the last of the 4th.
Once again, Wilson led off and got hit by the third pitch he saw, but this one came from the hand of Taylor Goshen, who Ginder knew still had a little left in his tank to relieve Inman.
McLean smoked a double down the right field line to score Wilson from first for a 6-4 Miller edge. Garrett and Vinny both K'd for two quick outs. St. Pierre came up again and drove in his second run of the day, getting McLean home for what would turn out to be the final score of 7-4.
Over 3 2/3 innings of relief, St. Pierre had tunnel vision on what the task at hand was. Shutting down the Carroll bats. That's exactly what Zack did and Keever couldn't have been more pleased with his effort. He left the mound with one out and one on in the top of the 7th and the crowd giving him a nice standing ovation for his pitching effort.
Garrett Christman relieved St. Pierre, getting the final two outs to clinch the Regional. Striking out Travis Snyder and jamming Matt Meihls into a pop out to Essig at short, put an end to any threat that Carroll had and Noblesville had become Lafayette Regional champions, holding off Carroll in comeback fashion 7-4.
St. Pierre (4-0) got the win on the mound and Garrett Christman (3) had the save for the Miller pitching staff.
Top Regional performers for Noblesville...
Easton Brock 3-6, 2 RBIs, 3 singles
Vinny Essig 3-7, 2 runs, 2B, 2 singles
Andrew Wilson 1-7, 3B, BB, HBP, FC, 4 runs
Zack St. Pierre 2-4, 3 runs, 3 BBs, 2 RBIs
Cory Conway 6.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run (earned), 10 K's, 3 BBs (22 batters faced)
Zack St. Pierre 3.2 IP, 2 hits, 3 K's, 2 BBs
Carroll ends a tremendous season at 22-10, adding a Northeast Hoosier Conference title to their credit, along with a sectional championship and an Elite 8 appearance.
*Noblesville (26-8) advances to the Final 4 to play Lake Central (23-10) in the 4A North Semi-State at Plymouth High School this Saturday at approximately 3:30 or 4 p.m.
*This is Noblesville's first Regional Championship since taking the 2007 Regional crown over Anderson Highland at home at The Dunk. Prior to this season, the Millers won the 2010 sectional at The Dunk and also advanced to the Elite 8, but lost to Cathedral in the Regional title game, 5-2.
*The 4A South Semi-State features Terre Haute North (24-7) and Castle (24-8). This game will be played at Ruxer Field at Jasper High School.
*The winners play on either June 20th or 21st at Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis, home of the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
As always, if you like what you're reading feel free and don't hesitate to follow me on Twitter at @MillerVoiceNDCB.
GO MILLERS!
Voice of the Millers,
Craig Adkins
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