THE REPORTER
The Class 3A second-ranked Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles took a short road trip to the northeast side of Indianapolis to Lawrence Township to face the Lawrence Central Bears on Thursday.
Still riding high from handing 4A No. 3 Noblesville a 4-3 loss on Monday, Guerin took full advantage of every opportunity the Bears gave them and headed back to Hamilton County with an 18-4 win.
Scoring early and often, Guerin jumped out to a commanding lead in the first and didn’t let up.
Will Fremion got it started by grounding a base hit to left. Ian Taylor walked for two on. Tate Troxell drove in Fremion. Taylor scored on a passed ball for 2-0 and then Bryson Dorsey lined a single to left, plating Nathan Gremelspacher, who ran for Troxell.
Ratcliff came in to courtesy run for Dorsey, stole second and scored on a passed ball. AJ Nunley ran home on a wild pitch for a 5-0 lead after the top of the first.
Three more scored in the second. Davis Wagner singled and scored. Cuinn Morrow doubled as Fremion and Taylor each scored again and it was 8-0.
Lawrence Central put two on the board with a triple in the bottom of the third, cutting the gap to 8-2.
The Golden Eagles put another pair up to make it 10-2 in the fourth. Morrow doubled Ratcliff home and Nunley tripled in Morrow.
Through six innings, it was 11-4 after LC scored two more. After that Guerin put up another crooked number.
The Golden Eagles plated seven more in the top of the seventh on two singles, doubles and triples to account for the final of 18-4.
Fremion and Morrow both led Guerin with three hits, while Wagner, Troxell, Gremelspacher, Dorsey and Nunley each had two hits.
The win over LC moved Guerin Catholic’s record to 24-2-1 overall as it finished the regular season. The Golden Eagles will play a first-round game at the Bishop Chatard sectional on Wednesday, taking on Brebeuf Jesuit.
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Carmel picked up two big wins this over the past two days.
First, the Greyhounds beat Kokomo 5-0 in a Thursday away game. Carmel started with two runs in the second inning: Tyler Walkey singled in James Charland, then Gabe Mathison bunted in Tim Haas.
The ‘Hounds then put up two runs in the third inning. Case Sullivan hit a double, then Cam Carmichael blasted a triple to send him home. Charland’s left field hit brought in Carmichael. Carmel added a seventh-inning run when Haas singled Sullivan home.
Sullivan, Carmichael, Charland and Mathison all had two hits. Cam Heaney pitched a complete game, striking out seven.
On Friday, the Greyhounds returned to Hartman field, where they beat Peru 14-8. The game was called in the sixth inning.
Carmel scored twice in the first inning, as JD Stein led off with a home run, then Carmichael batted in Hunter Snow with a right field hit. The ‘Hounds added three runs in the second inning. Snow drove in Walkey and Drew Fouts with a single, then Sullivan brought in Snow with a right field hit.
Carmel kept things rolling in the third inning with four runs. Stein doubled Mathison and Walkey home, then scored on Sullivan’s double.
Peru got two runs in the fourth inning, then tied the game at 8-8 with six runs in the top of the fifth inning. The Greyhounds responded with six runs in the bottom of the fifth. Mathison scored when Stein reached on error, Tripp Schroeder’s center field hit brought in Stein, Samuel Foulke and Carmichael got home after Silas Neal reached on error, John Zangrilli scored on a pitcher’s balk, and Neal got home on Brown’s center field hit.
Stein and Sullivan both had two hits, while Charland hit a double. Jack Ehrgott was the winning pitcher, while starting pitcher Theo Nagy threw six strikeouts over four innings.
Carmel is 17-7 and hosts its Invitational today.
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Fishers finished its regular season Thursday with a walkoff Hoosier Crossroads Conference victory over Brownsburg, 5-4 at the Tigers’ field.
The Bulldogs got on the board with a run in the first inning. Fishers tied the game in the third inning when Jack Brown batted in Evan Doran. Both teams then added a run in the fourth inning; Huston Dunn delivered a solo home run into right field for the Tigers.
It was the same pattern in the fifth inning: Brownsburg scored in the top of the inning, but Fishers homered again to tie the game, with Gavin Clayton sending one over the left field fence. Then in the sixth inning, Ben Hammond got his turn in the home run derby. He sent another ball out of the park in left field, and the Tigers led 4-3.
The Bulldogs scored in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 4-4. Brevin Barker led off for the Tigers with a center field hit, moved to second base on a wild pitch, then advanced to third base on Noah McPeek’s sacrifice bunt. Brown and Clayton were both intentionally walked to load the bases, but Barker took care of that by scoring the winning run on another wild pitch.
Kyle Manship pitched the last two innings, so he got the win in relief. He struck out three against just one hit. Gavin Kuzniewski pitched well in the first five innings, striking out 10 and allowing only four hits.
Fishers finished conference play in second place with a 10-4 record and are 19-11 overall. The Tigers play Noblesville in the first round of the Carmel sectional Wednesday night.
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Westfield cruised past Avon 11-5 in a Thursday away game that finished the Shamrocks’ HCC season.
Westfield scored three runs in the second inning. Matt Drozlek led off with a double, then moved to third base on Nick Alm’s left field single. Drew Law came in to run for Alm, Tyler Gentry was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Ian Wilson sent all three of them home with a center field double.
The ‘Rocks put up four runs in the fourth inning. Brayden Hibler hit a two-run home run, also scoring Caden Lindsey. Eli Manbeck got home when Evan Russ reached on error, and Collin Lindsey scored when Alm was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Caden Lindsey scored a second run in the fifth inning when he got home on a passed ball. In the sixth inning, Preston Tamm got home on Wilson’s RBI groundout, then Law scored on a passed ball. Drozlek complete the scoring in the seventh inning, as his second double of the game brought home Alex Rudolph.
Collin Lindsey finished with two hits and also got the pitching win. Seth Nanna got the save.
Westfield finished conference play 9-5 and is 16-9 for the season. The ‘Rocks host Jeffersonville on Saturday.
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As the regular season winds down, the Noblesville Millers took a road trip to Lafayette Friday to face former Hoosier Crossroads Conference foe Lafayette Jefferson at Loeb Stadium.
The Millers put an exclamation point on their regular season finale, taking down the host Bronchos in dominating fashion in five innings, 15-4.
Trevor Corbett led off reaching on an error and advanced to second when Bryce Riggs walked. Nolan Decker walked to load the bags with one out. Jack Shade also reached on an error, which allowed both Corbett and Riggs to score for an early 2-0 lead.
Two singles and a double helped Lafayette Jeff tie the game 2-2, but that didn’t last long.
Aiden Reynolds singled to score pinch runner Conner Seago for a 3-2 lead that the Millers wouldn’t give up.
Decker doubled to left, driving in both Trevor Corbett and Reynolds that made it 5-2.
Riggs scored on a Jack Shade fly out to center for a 6-2 margin.
The Bronchos got a pair in the bottom of the fourth on an error by Shade at first.
The fifth inning belonged to the Millers. They would have nine runs added to their final total.
Three consecutive walks to start the fifth rattled the Bronchos’ pitching. Five walks total, two singles and Shade getting hit by a pitch were the key contributing factors that helped put this game away for Noblesville in five innings, 15-4.
Trevor Corbett and Nolan Decker each had two hits and Jack Shade added three RBIs. Decker also drove in four. The top three in the batting order of Corbett, Reynolds and Riggs combine to score seven of the 15 runs.
Lucas Stephan improved his record on the mound to 3-1, working four innings, striking out four for the win. Dylan Keever worked the fifth with one hit and a strikeout.
Noblesville (21-6) won its third in a row and has some time off before next week’s sectional. The Millers play Fishers (19-11) in the second game on Wednesday at Carmel’s Hartman Field.
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Hamilton Southeastern got a walkoff HCC victory over Franklin Central 3-2 Thursday at Ken Seitz Field.
Both teams scored two runs in the sixth inning. Cole Earlewine drove in Maddux Bach and Clayton Wilke with his left field hit to get the Royals on the board. In the seventh inning, Alex Billman hit a double, then Wilke came in to run for him. Bach sent a base hit into left field, and that got Wilke home for the game-winning run.
Bach finished the game with two hits. Ty Bradle pitched a complete game, striking out 12.
Southeastern and Franklin Central played the second game of the series Friday night at the Flashes’ field; the game was delayed due to weather.