GAME 1: Eagles' 5-run 1st dooms Millers
4A #2 Zionsville 7, 4A #7 Noblesville 3 - at The Dunk, Noblesville (Tue. April 19, 2016)
Eagles 5 0 0 1 0 1 0 - 7 11 1
Millers 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 - 3 7 2
Sophomore Tyler Owens got the nod as the starting pitcher in Game 1 at home versus Zionsville. It would be a tall order, but the coaching staff has confidence in the right-hander.
Zionsville took advantage of the young pitcher, roughing him up for 5 runs on 5 hits in the 1st inning alone. It wasn't that Owens wasn't hitting his spots in the zone. The Eagles' hitters were just able to connect, unfortunately, on Tyler's 17 strikes he threw on 20 pitches.
Jacob Hurtibise leads off for head coach Jered Moore for a reason. He can get on base. The senior outfielder did just that, doubling to the right field corner on an 0-2 pitch. Nolan Elsbury singled up the middle into center and Jordan Cox reached on an error by Travis Gillian at short, scoring Hurtibise.
Drew Bertram dropped a single to left center that helped Elsbury score for a 2-0 Zionsville lead. Pitcher Nick Prather doubled to score Cox and then Jack Pilcher lined a single to center, plating Bertram and courtesy runner Jimmy Sullivan to give the guests a 5-0 lead before Noblesville came to bat.
Owens collected himself and put together some fine pitching in the 2nd and 3rd innings, facing just the minimum of three batters per frame. During that span, he struck out a pair and forced three ground ball outs and a fly out.
Sam Edgell doubled to lead off the top of the 4th. Then, an error again at short by Gillian, followed by a fielder's choice from Riley Bertram, that would score Edgell for 6-0. Owens would be lifted and relieved by fellow sophomore Kade Gorman. It only took Gorman eight pitches to end the threat of more Zionsville scoring, striking out Elsbury and Cox lining out to Carmosino at second.
Hurtibise drove in Chad Garisek in the top half of the 6th that gave the Eagles an insurance run and a 7-0, putting the Millers on the ropes.
Noblesville's bats came alive in the 7th. Austin Shirley walked with one out and Alex Cleverly was hit by a pitch for two runners aboard. Neil Brown came in to run for Cleverly. Gillian singled to load the bases and the Miller faithful came to their feet and were set for a late-game rally.
Michael Carmosino reached on a fielder's choice (Gillian out at 2nd), sending Shirley home for Noblesville's first run at 7-1. Connor Christman singled to left, scoring Brown to make it 7-2. With Julian Simac pinch-hitting, Carmosino was able to score on a wild pitch by Cox to cut the deficit to four at 7-3. But, that would be all that the Millers could put together with their bats in their final at-bat.
GAME 2: Quick start, Marowski's steady arm lead Millers to series tying win
4A #7 Noblesville 5, 4A #2 Zionsville 1 - at Zionsville (Wed. April 20, 2016)
Millers 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 8 1
Eagles 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 3 2
After dropping Game 1 on their home turf at The Dunk, the Noblesville Millers decided to take it upon themselves and swipe a crucial road game from the Eagles.
Clayton Marowski was poised once again to face another Hoosier Crossroads Conference opponent and make them his victim.
The senior silent assassin right-hander pitched a tremendous game. Marowski had comlete control of the Zionsville lineup, allowing just three hits, an unearned run, walking two and striking out five.
The Millers got the bats rolling right away in the top of the 1st. Travis Gillian led the game off with an infield single to third. Michael Carmosino also reached on an infield single to short, pushing Gillian all the way to third with nobody out. Gillian would score on a passed ball with Connor Christman up to take an early 1-0 lead.
Ty Lindstrand singled home Carmosino on a fly ball to right, giving Mouse a two-run lead before he even took the mound.
Alex Cleverly got the Miller half of the 2nd started with a 1-out single to left. Jackson Thurman came in to run for him. At the bottom of the order, Harris Camp walked for two aboard. Gillian doubled a grounder to left, sending Thurman and Camp home for a 4-0 score for the Millers.
They would tack another on in the inning, this time it was Carmosino hitting a sac fly to left, allowing Gillian to jog home for a comfortable 5-0 lead.
Marowski kept the Zionsville lineup in check for pretty much the remainder of the game. He was able to force the Eagles hitters into 10 groundouts and 3 fly outs, complimenting his handful of K's and just two walks. I'd say that makes his 3-hitter look even better.
Zionsville gave it one last try in the bottom of the 7th. Two quick outs had them in a hole, but they tried to rally. Chad Garisek reached on a catcher's interference. The DH Sam Edgell lined a double to left, scoring Garisek for their lone run, but that obviously wouldn't be enough.
GAME 3: Eagles jump on early to win elongated series finale
4A #1 Zionsville 8, 4A #10 Noblesville 3 - at The Dunk (Thur. Apr. 21 & Mon. Apr. 25, 2016)
Eagles 0 0 4 1 3 0 0 - 8 13 0
Millers 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 - 3 5 2
The series finale was originally slated to start at 6 p.m., just like any other game. But, our great Indiana weather came into play and Cory Conway didn't throw the first pitch of the game until 7:50.
The two teams were barely about to get an hour into this game when the umpires spotted lightning in the area, forcing a 30 minute delay that eventually turned into postponing the game until Monday at 6 p.m.
Cory Conway took his 4-0 record into Game 3 and put it on the line to try and capture the series win for the Millers.
His first two innings looked like he was pretty comfortable, striking out two of the seven he faced and also 2-2 ratio of groundouts to fly outs. Giving up a double to Garisek and walking Riley Bertram didn't really matter, because they were stranded on the base path.
The Eagles got to Conway in the 3rd, more than he'd been hit in quite a while. Jacob Hurd led off the top of the 3rd with a double to the fence in left. Hurtibise singled to center to put Zionsville up 1-0. Nolan Elsbury tripled to the fence in right center to send Hurtibise home for a quick 2-0 edge. Jack Pilcher joined the extra base hit theme, doubling to left and plating Elsbury. A couple outs later, Garisek singled to center to get courtesy runner Jimmy Sullivan home and just like that, Zionsville had put four runs on the board in the 3rd.
Zionsville added another to their total in the top of the 4th when Jacob Hurd singled to right and was then driven in by Elsbury to put the Eagles up 5-0. Noblesville head coach Justin Keever had called right-handed freshman Reese Sharp in from the left field bullpen to relieve the frustrated Conway, but that's when the umpires saw lightning. Those strikes in the sky delayed the game until it was officially postponed at 9:30 p.m. until Monday at 6 p.m.
When play resumed on Monday, April 25, both teams were poised to win this rubber game in the series, but it obviously would be a much taller task for the host Millers, staring at the scoreboard with a 5-0 deficit facing them.
Clayton Marowski was the arm that head coach Justin Keever and pitching coach Caleb Small had warming up in the bullpen and took over on the mound for the restart of the game.
Drew Bertram had no trouble after almost 4 days of a layover, dropping a base hit to right. Jordan Cox singled past Christman at third for two quick Eagles on. Chad Garisek doubled to deep right center, scoring both Bertram and Cox to make it 7-0. Riley Bertram laid down a perfect bunt that moved Garisek to third with one out. Jacob Hurd drove Garisek in with an infield single to give Zionsville a commanding 8-0 lead and putting the Millers in a bad position, with little time to make something happen.
Bryce Masterson walked, for the third time in the game, to lead off the bottom of the 6th. Tyler Owens came in to courtesy run for the Miller DH. Ty Lindstrand grounded out to move Owens to third and T.O. then scored on a sacrifice fly, getting Owens home for the first Noblesville run.
With the series on the ropes, Travis Gillian helped keep that glimmer of hope alive, getting on via a fielder's choice. Carmosino singled for two on, one out. Michael Scalzo came in to pinch hit and the junior lefty lined a two-run single on a frozen rope to drive in Gillian and Carmo to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Unfortunately, that's all that the Miller offense could muster up, dropping Game 3 and the crucial HCC series 2 games to 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment