By RICH TORRES
NOBLESVILLE – Raising both arms victoriously as Ben Burton made a diving catch in left field for the final out on Monday night, Fishers’ Matthew Wolff knew exactly what to do next.
With his head on a swivel, the senior pitcher caught a glimpse of catcher Alex Jamieson closing in fast before he turned and lowered the celebratory boom.
“After our dogpile for conference, Kiel (Brenczewski) had a tackle on Jamieson, and he tweeted out to our football coach. I knew I could definitely tackle better,” Wolff boasted. “I wanted to show it off.”
Spearing Jamieson in midair for an open-field takedown near the mound, Wolff nor his intended target felt any pain as the Class 4A No. 1 Tigers swarmed and pounced atop the duo on Donald J. Dunker Field.
After breaking a late 3-3 tie with a two-run top of the seventh to upend Noblesville 5-3 in the Sectional 8 finals on Memorial Day, the Tigers collectively stuck the landing as repeat champions.
Starter Grant Richardson overcame some momentary command issues to pitch a quality four-hitter through five innings, Burton laced a clutch go-ahead RBI-triple in the seventh and Wolff closed out the Tigers’ eighth straight win in 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief.
“He tackled me in the air,” Jamieson remarked while shaking his head at Wolff’s gridiron antics. “It was all fun. It was great.”
When the Tigers (25-7) needed to be, they were just as profound, especially in pressure moments against an inspired Noblesville Millers (21-11), who were playing with Friday morning’s school shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in their hearts and minds.
Both the Millers’ semifinal morning game, which ended in a 6-3 win over Hamilton Southeastern, and their title game against Fishers drew massive crowds at The Dunk.
More than $10,000 were raised throughout the day to aid acclaimed hero and Noblesville West Middle School teacher Jason Seaman and critically-wounded student Ella Whistler. The Millers primary objective by night’s end was to win, not only to end their own four-year sectional drought, but for a community slowly trying to heal.
“It was a lot. The past 72 to 96 hours have been a tough experience for us,” Noblesville head coach Justin Keever said. “But baseball has been that refuge for us and helps with that healing. These kids wanted to win a sectional championship. That was their goal tonight. Unbelievable atmosphere tonight, unbelievable support from our community. We just couldn’t get the job done tonight.”
It wasn’t from a lack of trying.
The Millers loaded the bases five times in the game and had five runners in scoring position through the first three innings, but they were held in check by Richardson, who retired the side with three straight strikeouts to end both the first and second innings.
“I had full confidence. He’s been pitching great all year,” Jamieson said. “I had no doubt he was going to get it done.”
The Indiana recruit issued two walks to open the bottom of the first and issued another free pass to start the second, followed by a single to fellow future Hoosier Reese Sharp and a walk to Ethan Imel.
Despite the shaky stretch, Richardson was difficult to break. The left-hander struck out 10 batters, walked six and surrendered just one run in the bottom of the fifth – a RBI-sacrifice fly with the bases loaded by Jacob Thieman.
Richardson ended four of his five innings with strikeouts before getting lifted once he reached 116 pitches. Noblesville left 11 runners stranded in the game.
“He’s really good. He can strike guys out and get out of the inning, so we were confident that maybe he could get a strikeout. There were less than two outs a couple of times with a guy on third, and he’s one of the best we have to get strikeouts,” Fishers head coach Matthew Cherry said. “We decided in the fifth we were going to try to get him through and go to our bullpen as long as his pitch count didn’t go up past the 120 mark.”
The Tigers offense provided Richardson with breathing room, scoring one run in the top of the first and two more in the fourth.
Wolff drove in the first run with a two-out RBI-single to bring home senior Craig Yoho from second base. In the fourth, Jamieson lined an RBI-single to left field, plating Brenczewski from second. Nick Lukac added the third run with an RBI-double.
“It pushed everyone to the max watching (Grant) battle out there, knowing we had to have his back,” Fishers senior outfielder J.J. Woolwine said. “With our team, we never give up. We’re never out of anything, and we go into attack mode the second we have pressure on us.”
The Millers tested the theory behind a two-run, one-hit bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 3-1, Noblesville rallied back with two outs and Sharp on base with a leadoff walk. A second walk by relief pitcher Alex Klotz to Tyler Owens setup a two-out, RBI-single by Indiana verbal commit Cooper Miles.
A throwing error to first base on an A.J. Goudy grounder to second base off a 0-1 offering from Wolff tied the game 3-3 as Owens scored from third base.
“We got a little worried after the sixth, but then we got back together as a group and calmed down,” Brenczewski said. “We got the job done. We got the W.”
Jack Roudebush initiated the comeback charge with a one-out single to center field in the top of the seventh. Burton, the Tigers’ nine-hole hitter and a converted middle infielder, punctuated the opportunity with an RBI-triple to right field.
“For me, I had to go up there and do something for my brothers,” Burton said. “I had to do something to help us win this game. It might not have been that hit, but it might have been moving that runner over, do something, and that’s exactly what I did.
“I stuck with it, and what do you know? I can play outfield now, too.”
Woolwine tacked on the insurance run with an RBI groundout.
Wolff and Jamieson teamed to do the rest with a strikeout and a pair of pop ups, including a diving stab by Burton to seal the program’s second sectional title all time.
“(Ben) has made some great plays for us out in left, and again, I’m so proud of him because he’s playing a position he didn’t really want to in the beginning, but he’s bought in and helped us get to where we’re at,” Cherry said. “That’s kind of what their motto has been, ‘just keep going until we run out of time.’”
For the Tigers, the season extends a minimum of five more days. They will next meet Zionsville in the Lafayette Jefferson Regional semifinals on Saturday morning in a rematch of last year’s regional finals when the Eagles halted the Tigers postseason run.
“It’s definitely not the last one. We’re going to see a lot more,” Jamieson remarked on the team’s game-ending dogpile. “We’re ready to be in this time and show out.”
Shoulder tackles are option.
“I let him down easy. I promise,” Wolff laughed.
Fishers 5, Noblesville 3
Fishers AB R H RBI
JJ Woolwine 4 0 0 1
Craig Yoho 3 1 0 0
Grant Richardson 4 0 0 0
Kiel Brenczewski 2 1 1 0
Matt Wolff 3 0 1 1
Alex Jamieson 3 0 1 1
Nick Lukac 3 0 1 1
Jack Roudebush 3 0 1 0
Ben Burton 2 1 1 1
Collin Shelton 0 2 0 0
Totals 27 5 6 5
3B: Burton. 2B: Lukac. SB: Burton, Yoho.
Fishers pitching IP R ER H
Richardson 5.0 1 1 4
Alex Klotz 0.2 2 0 0
Wolff (W) 1.0 0 0 0
Strikeouts: Richardson 10, Wolff 2, Klotz 1. Walks: Richardson 6, Klotz 2, Wolff 1.
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Tyler Owens 2 1 1 0
Cooper Miles 2 1 0 0
Mark Goudy 4 0 0 0
DJ Owens 2 0 1 0
Jacob Thieman 3 0 1 1
Bryce Randolph 3 0 0 0
Reese Sharp 3 0 1 0
Zac Tuinei 0 1 0 0
Ethan Imel 3 0 0 0
Jackson Ramey 3 0 0 0
Camden Nagel 0 0 0 0
Totals 25 3 4 1
2B: T. Owens. SB: Goudy, Miles. SAC: Thieman.
Noblesville pitching IP R ER H
Clay Holzworth 4 3 3 4
Ramey 3 2 2 2
Strikeouts: Holzworth 4, Ramey 4. Walks: Holzworth 3.
Score by innings
Fishers 100 200 2 – 5 6 2
Noblesville 000 012 0 – 3 4 1
The Fishers baseball team repeated as Sectional 8 champions on Monday. The Tigers beat Noblesville 5-3 at Don Dunker Field and will play Zionsville in the Lafayette Jefferson regional on Saturday. (Kent Graham)