It only took two at-bats for the Noblesville baseball team to get the winning runs as the Millers opened a Hoosier Crossroads Conference series with Westfield Thursday at the Shamrocks’ field.
Noblesville scored two runs in the first inning and eventually won the game 3-1. The series will shift to the Millers’ Don Dunker Field tonight as a doubleheader, with the first pitch at 6 p.m.
The game began with Tyler Owens drawing a walk. Mark Goudy stepped up to the plate next, and hit a 1-0 pitch into center field for a home run, putting Noblesville up 2-0 right away.
Westfield got a run back in the bottom of the first inning, when Kyle Pepiot hit a left field double to score Matt Meyer. But the Millers scored again in the second inning when Cooper Miles got home on an error.
That would finish the scoring, although DJ Owens threatened in the fifth inning by hitting a triple. DJ Owens finished the game 2-for-4, the only player on either team to have multiple hits.
“I thought we came out and ambushed a couple pitches early in the game,” said Noblesville coach Justin Keever. “The pitcher changed his approach and we didn’t do the things consistently throughout the ball game to be consistent. They had to make those three runs hold up. Now give them credit, they kept making pitches and their defense made some plays, so not taking any credit away from them. But at the same time, I thought our approaches could be better.”
Clay Holzworth pitched a fine game, striking out 11 in six innings of work. Kade Gorman came in for the seventh inning and got the save.
“Clay was a bulldog tonight,” said Keever. “He battled there, kind of struggled finding his footing on the mound. Anytime you go on the road there, especially for the pitcher, it’s a new hill you’re not used to, and you got to find a way to get comfortable and he did that. Threw a lot of strikes and I thought defensively we played pretty well behind him as well. Kade Gorman comes in and does a really nice job as well.”
Westfield’s Zach Zaborowski threw four and a third innings, with six strikeouts.
“Zab had a quality outing, definitely a step in the right direction for him,” said ‘Rocks coach Ryan Bunnell. “We still gave too much away from the mound but we did a lot of good things too. We couldn’t find the timely hit tonight and misplayed a few balls that was the difference. We are still learning to compete with the game. Better tonight but not good enough. We will keep working.”
Noblesville is now 5-4 for the season, while Westfield is 2-3. Both teams are 2-2 in conference play.
Noblesville 3, Westfield 1
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Tyler Owens 2 1 1 0
Mark Goudy 3 1 1 2
DJ Owens 4 0 2 0
Jacob Thieman 3 0 0 0
Reese Sharp 3 0 0 0
Zac Tuinei 0 0 0 0
Cooper Miles 1 1 0 0
Bryce Randolph 3 0 0 0
Clay Holzworth 3 0 0 0
Jackson Ramey 2 0 0 0
Zach Gruver 1 0 0 0
Totals 25 3 4 2
HR: Goudy. 3B: DJ Owens. SB: Miles 2, Ramey, Thieman. HBP: Goudy, Miles, Thieman.
Noblesville pitching IP R ER H
Holzworth (W) 6 4 1 1
Kade Gorman (S) 1 0 0 0
Strikeouts: Holzworth 11, Gorman 1. Walks: Holzworth 3, Gorman 1.
Westfield AB R H RBI
Sam Eaton 4 0 0 0
Zach Collins 3 0 0 0
Luke Hutson 0 0 0 0
Matthew Meyer 3 1 1 0
Kyle Pepiot 4 0 1 1
Bryce Dorton 1 0 0 0
Trey Anderson 3 0 0 0
Payton Tamm 3 0 1 0
Austin Wessell 2 0 0 0
Brandon Yoder 3 0 1 0
Totals 26 1 4 1
2B: Pepiot. SB: Meyer, Wessell. HBP: Dorton.
Westfield pitching IP R ER H
Zach Zaborowski 4.1 3 2 2
Eaton 1.2 0 0 1
Anderson 1.0 0 0 1
Strikeouts: Zaborowski 6, Eaton 1. Walks: Zaborowski 2, Eaton 1, Anderson 1.
Score by innings
Noblesville 210 000 0 – 3 4 1
Westfield 100 000 0 – 1 4 4
Noblesville’s Clay Holzworth (16) threw 11 strikeouts in six innings while getting the win for the Millers. Noblesville beat Westfield 3-1 Thursday to open the Hoosier Crossroads Conference series between the two teams. (Richie Hall)