By RICH TORRES
NOBLESVILLE – Justin Keever wasn’t too happy with his baseball team’s current trend. On Monday night, the host Noblesville Millers responded and corrected course with a sound 14-2 victory in five innings over rival Westfield.
Seniors Cade Nelis and Brady Walden combined for seven RBI behind three hits, and junior Ethan Imel added two more RBI, hitting atop the Millers’ order, as Noblesville erupted for nine runs in the first inning to secure its second straight win.
“I was really disappointed in how we performed in Game 1, and the guys came out and played with some energy in Game 2, and this one doesn’t count in the HCC standings, but it’s good to get the win, put some runs up,” Keever said.
The Millers lost their series opener against Westfield 3-2 at Grand Park on Friday before splitting with an 11-4 victory on Saturday. During Monday’s series finale, which had no impact on the Hoosier Crossroads Conference standings, the Millers didn’t slow down at the friendly confines of Dunker Field.
Noblesville (11-8, 6-2) laced six hits, drove in 12 runs and led 10-0 after two innings, while Matt Peek and Ethan Leslie limited the Shamrocks (7-5, 5-3) to five hits and two runs overall through five innings pitched.
Peek tossed three, five-hit frames, and Leslie pitched a near two innings of perfect relief with three strikeouts.
“They just came in with the mindset to throw strikes and pitch to contact. It worked out for them,” Imel said. “At the plate, we’re really sticking to our approaches and trying to do damage in the count and just grind it out and not let them beat us.”
Imel, the team’s starting catcher, did his part for the HCC frontrunners, finishing the game 2-for-2, including a pair of hits in the bottom of the first as the Millers sent 12 batters to the plate.
Imel opened the game with a single to left field and later drove in two runners with a ground-rule double and one out after the Millers loaded the bases three times in the first inning.
Westfield pitching walked 10 batters and hit three more overall to open the door for the surging Millers, who have racked up 25 runs in the past two games.
“It was pretty embarrassing on the mound to be honest. The last I checked we had 10 walks, three hit batsmen and committed five errors on top of that,” Shamrocks coach Ryan Bunnell said. “Really no excuses. We were just really, really bad tonight, and whatever the reason is, we have to figure that out because you can’t do that.”
The Millers discovered their offense behind six hitters scattered throughout the lineup with at least one RBI each.
Nelis went 2-for-3 with three RBI. He drove in the Millers’ first run with a bases-loaded single in the first inning and drove in two more with a double in the bottom of the fourth.
Walden had an RBI walk in the third and an RBI single in the second after a bases-loaded fielder’s choice in the first.
“Last week we started out slow. I think we had two hits against Franklin Central. We’ve been working a lot at practice, staying disciplined, getting pitches that we can drive and it helped a lot,” Walden said.
The Millers lost 5-1 to Franklin Central on April 22, which they followed up with a loss to Westfield before turning the offense around.
“We’ve been putting up some runs, but they gave us a lot. They had a hard time throwing strikes tonight and catching the ball, but we’ll take it,” Keever said.
Noblesville drove in runs in every inning and plated three runs in the bottom of the fourth to end the game by mercy rule in the top of the fifth.
Tyler Smitherman finished 1-for-3 with two RBI for Westfield with a two-run double in the top of the third, but the Shamrocks had few answers against Peek and Leslie.
“We’re better than this, and we have to learn to come with a consistent effort and performance level,” Bunnell said. “We certainly didn’t do that tonight. It kind of started on Saturday to be honest. We jumped up three runs, and then we weren’t really good on the mound on Saturday either.”
Noblesville turned a 3-0 deficit on Saturday into a 6-3 lead and eventual 11-3 advantage to split the series and keep their ½ game lead over Hamilton Southeastern in the HCC standings.
“Ultimately, yeah, in the grand scheme (this game) doesn’t count in the conference standings, but we’ve got to compete and perform a lot better than we did tonight,” Bunnell said.
The Millers came out ready, compiled eight at-bats before the Shamrocks recorded their first out. Zach Gruver and Peek had RBI in the first inning for Noblesville. The Shamrocks sent four pitchers to the mound to quiet the Millers, but Noblesville loaded the bases eight times in the game.
“I thought we played really good defense tonight, and I thought Matt and Ethan Leslie, who came early, threw strikes,” Keever said. “(Westfield starter Parker Bard) was struggling to find the zone a little bit, but Ethan kind of broke it open with that bases-loaded double. He’s put some great at-bats together for us tonight. We like him there (hitting No. 1) because he gets on base.”
Bard lasted 1.0 inning before getting pulled with three walks surrendered, a hit batter and two strikeouts.
“We lost one to Westfield in the first game, so we kind of used that as a reality check, kind of find who we are,” Walden said.
The Millers know now, and they hope to carry the momentum into this week’s HCC showdown with HSE (10-4, 5-2) beginning at Thursday in Fishers. The two-game series concludes at Dunker Field on Friday.
Noblesville 14, Westfield 2
(5 innings)
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Ethan Imel 2 0 2 2
Camden Nagel 0 4 0 0
D.J. Owens 2 2 0 0
Cooper Miles 3 1 0 1
Cade Nelis 3 2 2 3
Matt Peek 1 1 0 1
Brady Walden 3 1 1 4
Zach Gruver 3 1 1 1
Cole Barnes 1 1 0 0
Lucas Williams 2 1 0 0
Totals 20 14 6 12
2B: Nelis, Imel.
NHS pitching IP R ER H
Matt Peek 3.0 2 2 5
Ethan Leslie 2.0 0 0 0
Strikeouts: Leslie 3.
Westfield AB R H RBI
Trey Anderson 3 1 1 0
Bryce Dorton 2 1 1 0
Tyler Smitherman 3 0 1 2
Zach Collins 2 0 0 0
Kyle Pepiot 2 0 1 0
Austin Wessel 2 0 0 0
Andy Manzur 2 0 1 0
Payton Tamm 2 0 0 0
AJ Bunnell 2 0 0 0
Totals 20 2 5 2
2B: Smitherman.
WHS pitching IP R ER H
Parker Bard 1.0 9 8 4
AJ Bunnell 1.2 2 2 1
Mason Cox 0.2 2 2 0
Drew Coy 0.2 1 1 2
Strikeouts: Bard 2, Bunnell 2, Cox 1, Coy 1. Walks: Bard 3, Bunnell 4, Cox 3.
Score by innings
Westfield 002 00 – 2 5 2
Noblesville 911 3x – 14 7 1
Noblesville won a thriller at Don Dunker Field on Tuesday, scoring two runs in the eighth inning to beat Columbus North 7-6.
The game was tied at 5-5 after the regulation seventh inning. The Bull Dogs scored one run in the top of the eighth, but the Millers got the win when DJ Owens doubled in Cole Barnes and Lucas Williams.
Noblesville scored all of its other runs in the first inning. Cooper Miles batted in Camden Nagel and Owens (who hit a double), then Nelis doubled home Miles. Nelis scored on a fielder’s choice from Zach Gruver, then Barnes’ fielder’s choice got Brady Walden home.
Owens, Miles and Nelis all had two hits, Miles joined the other two in hitting a double. Miles also pitched the eighth inning, which gave him the win. Jared Michael threw five strikeouts in relief.
Noblesville 7, Columbus North 6
(8 innings)
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Ethan Imel 3 0 0 0
DJ Owens 3 1 2 2
Cooper Miles 4 1 2 2
Grant Braun 0 0 0 0
Cade Nelis 3 1 2 1
Matt Peek 4 0 0 0
Brady Walden 3 1 1 0
Zach Gruver 4 0 1 1
Cole Barnes 2 1 0 1
Clay Holzworth 1 0 0 0
Lucas Williams 4 1 1 0
Camden Nagel 0 1 0 0
Totals 31 7 9 7
Score by innings
Columbus North 201 002 01 – 6 8 3
Noblesville 500 000 02 – 7 9 2
2B: Owens 2, Miles, Nelis. SB: Nelis, Owens, Williams.
Noblesville pitching IP R ER H
Jared Crandall 4 3 1 5
Jared Michael 3 2 2 2
Miles (W) 1 1 1 1
Strikeouts: Michael 5, Crandall 2, Miles 1. Walks: Crandall 4, Michael 1, Miles 1.
The Noblesville dugout looks on as the Millers prepare for their at-bat in the first inning during the Noblesville-Westfield Monday game at Don Dunker Field. The Millers beat the Shamrocks 14-2. (Richie Hall)
Westfield’s Zach Collins gets ready at the plate. (Richie Hall)