Baseball: Millers have two big late innings to beat Huskies

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

NOBLESVILLE – Monday evening was the perfect night to start the week off with an all-county baseball game at Dunker Field. The Hamilton Heights Huskies grabbed the early lead, but the late innings belonged to the Noblesville Millers as they took down the Huskies in six innings, 14-4.

Heights got started right away in the first with a two-out single from PJ Wright. Dillon Pitts doubled Wright in to make it 1-0 on a sharp base hit to center.

“We’ve just got to play sharp. When we make mistakes, we just do it in bunches and then it gives them more opportunities,” said Noblesville head coach Justin Keever. “I thought Adam (Gaskill) pitched alright, did fine, had some bad luck ground balls and a bad luck hop at first. We made a couple errors behind him.”

The Huskies tacked on a couple more runs in the third. Levi Chandler led off by reaching on an error by first baseman Trevor Corbett. Chandler advanced to second on a passed ball and scored when Nick Hulen took a 2-2 pitch from Adam Gaskill over the fence in left for a two-run shot and a 3-0 score.

“Even in the FC series and all year long, we’re not ‘getting off the bus,’ giving up a mark early and we’re not scoring early,” said Keever. “So, we’ve got to find a way to get off to better starts. Give Hamilton Heights credit. Coach Hughes does a good job. Those guys played hard and they came ready to play.”

Owen Robey struck out four and walked two in the first few frames. Noblesville got to a breaking point starting in the fourth inning.

Aiden Reynolds stroked a double to the fence in center to lead off the home half. He was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Tanner Miller for the first run for the Millers.

After Gaskill gave up a leadoff walk and an infield single with one out, Ethan Kang came on in relief, shutting the door for the final two outs of the inning.

“Ethan Kang came in and got us out of a jam and did a nice job there. Ruse (Ryan) picked up Kang the next inning to get out of his inning,” Keever said.

Designated hitter Jalen Stidham started off the bottom of the fifth with a solid hit to center. Chris Martz walked and with Garrett Dixon up, Robey balked, moving Stidham and Martz to second and third. Zac Glander and Trevor Corbett walked consecutively, scoring both Stidham and Martz to tie it 3-3.

Reynolds drove in courtesy runner Luke Hagelskamp for the 4-3 lead that the Millers wouldn’t relinquish. Glander, Reynolds and Cole Schott all scored to make it 7-3 through five.

Heights scored their final run in the top of the sixth, but that only fueled the Millers.

Noblesville made a statement in their final at-bats in the sixth. Glander led off with a hit to center, reaching on an error by Hickman. A passed ball got him to second, followed by another Corbett walk for two on. Reynolds walked to load the bags up. Schott was hit by a pitch to score Zac Glander for an 8-3 lead.

Tanner Miller’s RBI single scored Corbett. Next, Aiden Ramsey unloaded on a 1-0 pitch out over the plate for a grand slam and a 13-4 count.

“Aiden (Ramsey) with the grand slam late, can’t forget, it’s been a long wait. Jalen Stidham got us going. He struggled that first at-bat with the breaking ball. Second time up, he stayed on a two-strike breaking ball, shortened up the swing a little bit and had a better approach with two strikes and hit a base hit up the middle,” Keever said.

Back to the first hitter of the inning, Zac Glander hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Stidham for the final run, ending the game in six innings by the run rule.

“I thought Zac Glander in his first start had great at-bats. He had a key situation with bases loaded, was down in the count (0-2) and posted a walk and had a hit earlier and then the sac fly to end it,” Keever said.

Hamilton Heights (5-8) was led by Hulen’s two-run home run, along with Hickman, Wright, Pitts and Luke Davis collecting hits. Owen Robey struck out five hitters in his four innings, allowing five earned runs.

Ramsey led the Millers with his grand slam, four RBIs and a pair of walks. Reynolds went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Jalen Stidham was 2-for-3, also scored two and drove in a run. Glander scored two runs and drove in a pair in his first start at second base.

Kang (1-0) earned the win and classmate Ryan Ruse struck out both hitters he faced in the top of the sixth.

“The biggest takeaway from this game for me is I’m more concerned about how we play. I thought early we played pretty good defense and then we had some lapses. It’s nice to have Aiden (Reynolds) back. We’ve kind of got guys in positions they’re more suited for. Then you have Martzy (Chris Martz) making some nice plays at third,” said Keever.

Noblesville (8-8, 3-3 HCC) faces No. 6 Westfield (10-4, 4-2 HCC) in a crucial conference series starting tomorrow at Dunker Field. The series finale is slated for Friday at Shamrock Field. Both are scheduled to start at 6:30. The Millers conclude the week with Senior Day on Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch against the Lebanon Tigers (1-11).

“We’re not where we want to be, but we’re working to improve and to get as best as we can be to close that capability cap,” said Keever. “We’ve got work to do at practice tomorrow. We have a big series this week with Westfield.”