It was a rumble on the Royals’ field Thursday night, with Hamilton Southeastern hosting Noblesville as the two teams began a Hoosier Crossroads Conference baseball series at Ken Seitz Field.
Both teams held the lead at one point during the slugfest, but it was a grand slam from Jacob Daftari that propelled the Royals ahead for good. Southeastern then held off a late charge from the Millers to win 11-9.
Daftari’s slam came in the sixth inning with the game tied at 7-7. Jacob Dewolf and Anthony Eggers both drew walks, then Cole DeWael loaded the bases with a base hit. (Zach Boyle came in to courtesy run for Dewolf after his walk.) The Royals absorbed a strikeout before Daftari came up, and he nailed the ball into center field.
A grand slam is amazing any time, but this one broke the tie and moved HSE ahead 11-7.
“I expected it to at least hit the fence, because it went solid off my bat,” said Daftari. “I didn’t really expect it to go over.”
That hit was the third of three home runs for Southeastern on Thursday. The other two came in the third inning, again getting the Royals in front after Noblesville held an early lead.
The Millers scored two runs in the top of the second. Jacob Thieman got on base with a hit, was moved to third by Bryce Randolph’s single, then scored on an error. Randolph was home seconds later, scored by a single from Reese Sharp.
The Royals began the third inning with a homer from Jake Stout, who hit a grand slam himself earlier in the season. That put HSE on the board, and they were ahead a couple minutes later. Boyle, again running for Dewolf (who singled), tied the game after scoring on an error.
DeWael then hit a sacrifice fly to get Eggers home and give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Then, it was a 4-2 lead after Greyson Droste cracked a homer into left field.
Noblesville didn’t give up, of course. In the fifth inning, Tyler Owens sent a 1-1 ball over the center field fence, a three-run homer that scored himself, Sharp and Jackson Ramey. Just like that, the Millers were up 5-4.
Later, Mark Goudy drew a walk, and was sent home right away by DJ Owens’ triple. Thieman got Owens home quickly with a single.
The Millers were now up 7-4, but the Royals tied it up in the bottom of the fifth. Droste batted Eggers in, then Daftari smacked a triple to score Droste. Daftari tied the game up after scoring on error, and would be back up in the sixth inning to give HSE the lead.
“The one thing that I know about Noblesville is that they’re never going to quit,” said Southeastern coach Scott Henson. “And that’s what I tried telling my guys. We got up 4-2 and guys kind of relaxed a little bit and I said, ‘Guys, there’s no way that this game is ending 4-2.'”
The Royals had to get past one last rally by Noblesville in the seventh inning. Thieman doubled in Cooper Miles, then DJ Owens scored on an error. The Millers had two men on with one out, but Southeastern got the last two outs to end the game.
“The fact that we came back and stayed in there and battled – it’d be really easy with the way our season’s gone so far just to have gone ‘Well, here we go again,'” said Henson. “I think the guys did a good job of having good approaches at the plate, battling in the field, even though we made a couple errors that could’ve cost us. Bottom line was, when we needed it, we did what we had to do to get the job done.”
Droste, Daftari and Dewolf all had two hits, with Daftari totaling five RBIs. Matt Buckingham and Brayton Harrison both hit a double. Henson credited Sam Bachman with pitching well; Bachman threw five innings. Tyler Schweitzer finished the game and got the win.
Meanwhile, Thieman finished 4-for-4 at the plate, driving in two runs. Tyler Owens’ home run resulted in three RBIs.
Southeastern is 3-10 in the HCC and 6-12 overall, while the Millers are 3-7 in the conference and 11-10 overall. The series continues at 6 p.m. tonight at Noblesville’s Don Dunker Field.
Southeastern 11, Noblesville 9
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Tyler Owens 4 1 1 3
Cooper Miles 2 1 0 0
Mark Goudy 2 1 0 0
DJ Owens 4 2 1 1
Jacob Thieman 4 1 4 2
Bryce Randolph 1 1 1 0
Reese Sharp 4 1 1 1
Ethan Imel 2 0 0 0
Alex Hewitt 1 0 0 0
Jackson Ramey 3 1 0 0
Zac Tuinei 0 0 0 0
Totals 27 9 8 7
HR: T. Owens. 3B: DJ Owens. 2B: Thieman. SB: Goudy 2, Randolph, Thieman.
Noblesville pitching IP R ER H
Ryan Plummer 4.1 7 7 8
Kade Gorman 1.1 4 4 2
Camden Nagel 0.1 0 0 1
Strikeouts: Plummer 4, Gorman 2. Walks: Plummer 4, Gorman 2.
Southeastern AB R H RBI
Anthony Eggers 0 3 0 0
Cole DeWael 3 1 1 1
Greyson Droste 4 2 2 2
Jacob Daftari 4 2 2 5
Drew Switzer 2 0 0 0
Matt Buckingham 1 0 1 0
Brayton Harrison 3 0 1 0
Cam Bolling 3 0 1 0
Jake Stout 3 1 1 1
Jack Dewolf 2 0 2 0
Zach Boyle 0 2 0 0
Totals 25 11 11 9
HR: Daftari, Droste, Stout. 3B: Daftari. 2B: Buckingham, Harrison. SB: Bolling, Boyle. SAC: DeWael.
Southeastern pitching IP R ER H
Sam Bachman 5 7 5 7
Tyler Schweitzer (W) 2 2 0 1
Strikeouts: Bachman 3, Schweitzer 3. Walks: Bachman 4, Schweitzer 3.
Score by innings
Noblesville 020 050 2 – 9 8 3
Southeastern 004 034 x – 11 11 5
Hamilton Southeastern’s Jacob Daftari had a big-hitting day for the Royals during their 11-9 win over Noblesville Thursday at Ken Seitz Field. Daftari hit a sixth-inning grand slam, which broke a 7-7 tie, and totaled five RBIs for the game. (Richie Hall)
The Noblesville baseball team celebrates after Tyler Owens (11) hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning of the Millers’ game at Hamilton Southeastern on Thursday. (Richie Hall)