Taking a look at the schedule on www.millerball.com, the Millers were originally slated to head to Kokomo to battle the Wildkats on Tuesday, May 12. It turned out that Kokomo was in the North Central Conference tournament and was unable to play Noblesville this week.
That sent Millers' head coach Justin Keever on a search early Tuesday morning for an opponent that night. There was the slight possibility of heading to Covenant Christian in Zionsville, but that idea was just a flash in the pan. By mid morning, it was solidified that Heritage Christian would be coming north to play Noblesville at The Dunk.
In its short athletics history, the Heritage Christian Eagles have created a rich tradition that will last for quite a while. Whether it's the girls volleyball, girls basketball or football state championship and state finals appearances that have raised the standards at their 75th and Binford Rd. campus or not, their baseball program has some accolades of their own.
Head Coach Dan Ambrose led the Heritage Christian baseball program to back-to-back 2A baseball State Championships recently. In 2009, the Eagles (25-6) beat Lewis Cass 11-3 for the school's first baseball crown. It's never easy, but they repeated in 2010 (27-10) by defeating Delphi 5-1.
What better way to prepare his Eagles for the 2A state tournament that's coming up than to play the defending 4A state champions? Exactly.
The sectional draw will take place this next Tuesday, May 19th to determine the sectional pairings for the 2015 IHSAA state baseball tournament that will start on Wednesday, May 27.
Noblesville 6, Heritage Christian 1 - (Tuesday, May 12 - at The Dunk, Noblesville)
Eagles 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 5
Millers 1 1 3 1 0 0 x - 6 7 0
It was obvious that the Eagles weren't afraid to come play the Millers and they showed it in the 1st inning.
Two pitches by Justin Buchanan and two quick fly outs to center by Lake Webb and Ronnie Timmerman put the pressure on Heritage Christian right away, but they didn't fold.
Andy Hunt walked and then quickly stole second base. Jordan Brehm got his night started off right with a double down the right field line that scored Brehm from 2nd and Heritage Christian took an early 1-0 lead.
That wouldn't last long at all.
Travis Gillian made Eagles starter Ronnie Timmerman work hard, throwing 8 pitches to the Miller CF to only walk him. Gillian stole second base with Vince Essig up to bat. Gillian advanced to third on Michael Carmosino's ground out to third and would soon score on an error by 1B Reilly Schlosser to tie it up 1-1.
From striking out the final batter of the 1st inning, Buchanan was focused and faced just the minimum of three in the 2nd through 4th innings, striking out five in that span.
The Millers added another run in the home half of the 2nd. Dax McLochlin tripled to deep center on a very short hop to the fence. The senior rapidly rounded the bags and was able to make his way home to score on the play for a 2-1 Noblesville lead that they wouldn't give back.
Back to the top of the order in the 4th, Gillian would leg out an infield single off of reliever Sam Lyons to get it going. Essig walked for two on. Two batters later with two outs now, Bryce Masterson belted a stand-up double into the right field corner that scored Gillian and Essig for a 4-1 lead. Jackson Thurman came in to run for the sophomore DH and scored on L.J. Tilley's single to left for a 5-1 Noblesville lead after 3 innings.
Brock Grinstead was in to pitch the 4th and 5th innings and for the most part he was the better answer in relief for the Eagles.
Gillian singled with one out in the 4th and would score when Carmo reached on an error by second baseman Ronnie Timmerman for the final score of 6-1.
Connor Adams came in during the top of the 6th after Buchanan gave up a pair of singles to Timmerman and Hunt.
Adams struck out the Jordan Brehm to raise his confidence coming out of the bullpen. Sam Lyons hit into a fielder's choice that was hit to Essig and he quickly threw to third to get the lead runner out for the second out of the inning. The inning would end fast as Adams stepped off and threw to Essig at second when Andy Hunt tried steal second, Vince applying the tag for the third out.
The senior lefty got the first couple outs and then Keever went to Patrick Coleman out of the bullpen. Coleman threw just three pitches, getting M.J. Furnish to pop out to Alec Parker in foul territory behind home plate to end the game with the Millers securing a 6-1 victory.
The loss dropped a good Heritage Christian team to 14-5 on the year and Noblesville improved to 15-8, continuing their winning streak to 7 games.
Justin Buchanan improved to 2-0 on the season, throwing 5 innings, whiffing 6 Eagles and walking just two in 5-plus innings.
Masterson led the Millers with two RBIs on his 2-run double in the third and Gillian scored three of the Noblesville runs on his two singles and walk.
Noblesville hits the road today (Thursday) to start a huge Hoosier Crossroads Conference series with the Brownsburg Bulldogs (12-8, 7-5 HCC). The Millers are 15-8 overall with a 7-5 mark in league play, tying them with Brownsburg heading into the 3-game series.
Brownsburg is 5-6 in their last 11 games. They lost the Hendricks County tournament championship to Avon at Plainfield 5-4 on April 18. The Bulldogs made a clean sweep of Fishers to end April and start May. They next were swept by Westfield in three games and took 2 of 3 over Zionsville last week. Monday night, the Bulldogs got a big road win 5-1 over 4A #9 Center Grove.
Game 1 is tonight at Brownsburg and 6pm. Game 2 will be Friday night at The Dunk at 6pm with Game 3 concluding the series back at Brownsburg on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
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