The Noblesville Millers took to the road to end the regular season with a doubleheader at Lafayette Jefferson’s Loeb Stadium against the Bronchos on Saturday, May 21.
Lafayette Jeff came from behind to grab the win in the first game, 4-3. The Millers were able to take command to win game two to head into sectional play on a high note with an 8-2 victory.
The first game started at noon and Noblesville was the first to get going offensively.
Drew Niswonger was hit by a pitch to start off the bottom of the second. A Luke Wilson single moved Niswonger to second. The two then pulled off a double steal to move up to third and second base respectively. A couple batters later, Kolby Kazmierski tripled to left to score Wilson for 1-0.
Trevor Corbett next lined a single to left that sent Kazmierski home for a 2-0 score.
Evan Rainey did his part for the host Bronchos and walked to start the home half of the fourth. Rainey would score Jeff’s first run on a wild pitch by Noblesville’s Lucas Stephan to cut it to 2-1.
Jack Shade would get his first varsity hit in the top of the sixth. Keegan Speek came in to pinch run for Shade. A few hitters later, Wilson took a base hit to left to plate Speek to make it 3-1.
The Bronchos were able to stage a comeback in their half of the sixth. Brady Preston doubled and eventually scored on a Rainey hit, trimming the lead to 3-2.
Garrett Rainey grounded a single to score Evan Rainey to tie it 3-3. Jeff would win the game in the bottom of the eight on a wild pitch by Ty Haley to take the first game, 4-3.
Wilson was the only Miller with two hits and Bryce Riggs struck out five in three innings on the mound.
The Millers had another agenda than happened in the first game of the twinbill. Noblesville found four different innings to get runs on the board in an 8-2 win to go into hosting sectional on a positive note.
Trevor Corbett led off going opposite field for a single to right. Jack Shade would continue his varsity debut double, driving another hit to left that scored Corbett. Shade would score on a wild pitch with Bryce Riggs up to get the Millers up 2-0 early.
Leyton Corbin got the Bronchos one of their two runs on a hit by Garrett Rainey.
The fifth and sixth innings proved pivotal, as Noblesville would add its remaining five runs to break the game wide open.
Noblesville was able to cling to an 8-2 win to split the doubleheader with Lafayette Jeff.
Jack Shade wound up 2-for-2 with three RBIs and scored twice. Trevor Corbett also scored twice and went 2-of-5 in the second game. Josh Kern, Bryce Riggs and Drew Niswonger all three drove in a run.
Eli Ketterer moves to 2-0 with the win in relief of Ethan Dorsey. They both threw three innings and struck out three batters each.
The split drops the Bronchos to 12-18 overall. Lafayette Jeff will play in the first round of Sectional 7 against the host Logansport Berries (18-10) on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Noblesville evened its season record (14-14) heading into sectional play next week. The Millers will open up in the first game of Sectional 8 at Dunker Field in Noblesville against Zionsville (17-11) at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
LAFAYETTE JEFFERSON 4, NOBLESVILLE 3
(8 innings)
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Trevor Corbett 3 0 1 1
Nolan Decker 4 0 1 0
Josh Kern 2 0 0 0
Jack Shade 3 0 1 0
Keegan Speek 0 1 0 0
Jacob Edwards 4 0 0 0
Drew Niswonger 2 0 0 0
Luke Wilson 3 1 2 1
Bryce Riggs 3 0 0 0
Kolby Kazmierski 2 1 1 1
Totals 26 3 6 3
Score by Innings
Noblesville 020 001 00 – 3 6 0
Lafayette Jeff 000 102 01 – 4 7 1
3B: Kazmierski. SB: Corbett, Kazmierski, Kern, Niswonger, Wilson. HBP: Niswonger.
NHS pitching IP R ER H
Riggs 3.0 0 0 0
Lucas Stephan 2.1 3 3 4
Ty Haley 2.1 1 1 3
Strikeouts: Riggs 5, Stephan 2, Haley 2. Walks: Riggs 3, Haley 2, Stephan 1.
NOBLESVILLE 8, LAFAYETTE JEFFERSON 2
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Trevor Corbett 5 2 2 0
Nolan Decker 3 1 0 0
Luke Wilson 2 1 0 0
Jack Shade 2 2 2 3
Jacob Edwards 2 1 1 0
Bryce Riggs 3 0 1 1
Josh Kern 3 1 1 1
Conner Bloss 2 0 1 0
Drew Niswonger 4 0 1 1
Kolby Kazmierski 0 0 0 0
Totals 26 8 9 6
Score by Innings
Noblesville 210 032 0 – 8 9 1
Lafayette Jeff 100 001 0 – 2 3 3
2B: Kern. SB: Corbett, Wilson. SAC: Bloss. HBP: Edwards.
NHS pitching IP R ER H
Ethan Dorsey 3.1 1 1 2
Eli Ketterer (W) 3.2 1 1 1
Strikeouts: Dorsey 3, Ketterer 3. Walks: Dorsey 4, Ketterer 1.