By CRAIG ADKINS
NOBLESVILLE – The recent inclement weather postponed baseball for the past two nights in central Indiana, but Saturday night turned out to be quite the weather. The Noblesville Millers took advantage of the perfect baseball weather and gave Class 3A’s second-ranked Western Panthers their first loss of the season with a 9-1 victory.
Junior right-hander Bryce Riggs continued his pitching prowess and took command of the visiting Panthers’ hitters right away.
“He’s been pitching well all year and he had all three pitches working tonight,” said Noblesville head coach Justin Keever on Bryce Riggs.
He’s making some competitive pitches and we’re playing really good defense behind him. All in all, we played a really good baseball game today,” continued Keever on Riggs and the Millers’ great defensive outing.
The Millers offense shined bright and found the right spots to make things happen.
Kolby Kazmierski led off the last of the second with an infield single to shortstop Deaglan Pleak. Josh Kern followed with a single to right center and then Jacob Edwards dropped a single into shallow left to load the bags.
Keegan Speek grounded into a double play that scored Kazmierski for an early 1-0 lead. Elijah Bowers continued the scoring, singling on a grounder to right to plate Kern for 2-0.
Noblesville got the bats back out again in the bottom of the third.
Nolan Decker started off with an opposite field double down the left field line. Two hitters later, Riggs drove home Decker with a single to left. Kazmierski was hit by a pitch and Josh Kern walked. With the bases loaded again, Speek was plunked and courtesy runner Logan Shoffner scored for 4-0.
Christian Pownall relieved Parker Dean on the mound for Western in the third. Kazmierski would immediately score on a wild pitch for a solid 5-0 lead.
Riggs continued his great night on the hill, as he would throw five solid innings and strike out eight Panthers, allowing just two hits and two walks.
The fifth would be an inning that put Western’s hopes of a comeback to bed. Riggs got it started walking and his courtesy runner Logan Shoffner would quickly score on a double by Kazmierski down the left field line for a 6-0 score.
Kern would sacrifice bunt Kazmierski over to third with one out. Jacob Edwards picked up his second hit, putting a single through the left side of the infield to score Kazmierski from third with ease to bump the score to 7-0.
Two batters later with two down, Elijah Bowers reached on an error, which also allowed courtesy runner Connor Seago to score for 8-0. Drew Niswonger would help round out the scoring by belting a double to the fence in left center that scored Bowers for 9-0.
Western started to make an attempt at a comeback, but it was short-lived. Parker Dean doubled to start the sixth and he would score the lone Panther run when Mitchell Dean reached on an error by Luke Wilson at second.
The Panthers couldn’t add any more runs off of Lucas Stephan in the sixth or Eli Ketterer in the seventh, helping the Millers overwhelm Western for their first loss of the year, 9-1.
“I thought that was a good win for us. That’s a good ball club, it’s their first loss and there’s a reason why. They’ve got good players and they’re well-coached and we were just able to make more plays tonight,” stated Keever, taking his hat off to his team while complimenting the talent of Western.
Western (16-1) took its first loss of 2022 and gave up 11 hits in the process.
Noblesville (11-8) has won three in a row and seven of its last nine.
Kazmierski led the hit parade by going 3-for-3 with a double and a pair of singles, while getting hit by a pitch and scoring three runs. Edwards and Niswonger each finished with two hits each.
“We pass the baton with competitive at-bats and that’s really who we’ve got to be,” said Keever on his lineup all contributing offensively.
The Millers get back to action on Tuesday at Kokomo (9-11), playing at Municipal Stadium versus the Wildkats at 6:30 p.m.
NOBLESVILLE 9, WESTERN 1
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Drew Niswonger 4 0 2 1
Nolan Decker 4 1 1 0
Luke Wilson 3 0 0 0
Bryce Riggs 3 0 1 1
Kolby Kazmierski 3 3 3 1
Josh Kern 1 1 1 0
Jacob Edwards 3 0 2 1
Keegan Speek 2 0 0 1
Elijah Bowers 3 1 1 1
Logan Shoffner 0 2 0 0
Conner Seago 0 1 0 0
Totals 26 9 11 6
Score by Innings
Western 000 001 0 – 1 3 2
Noblesville 023 040 x – 9 11 2
2B: Decker, Kazmierski, Niswonger. SB: Shoffner 3, Bowers, Kazmierski, Seago. SAC: Kern. HBP: Kazmierski, Speek.
NHS pitching IP R ER H
Riggs (W) 5 0 0 2
Lucas Stephan 1 1 0 1
Eli Ketterer 1 0 0 0
Strikeouts: Riggs 8, Ketterer 2, Stephan 1. Walks: Riggs 2, Stephan 1, Ketterer 1.