Gaskill’s one-hit shutout gives Noblesville 10th straight win

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

NOBLESVILLE – The Noblesville baseball team welcomed in the Tri-West Bruins from the Sagamore Conference for a Saturday night tilt at Dunker Field. It might have been one of the shortest home games ever as the Millers worked quickly, taking down the Bruins in just one hour and 20 minutes with a 10-0 victory in five innings.

Aiden Reynolds doubled to the fence in deep center on the fly with one out. Cole Schott gave Noblesville two on after getting hit by a pitch. Tanner Miller sent Reynolds home for 1-0 when he reached on an error by the shortstop. Luke Hagelskamp one-hopped a double to left, scoring both Schott and Miller for the early 3-0 lead.

“We had some good at-bats. The ball was jumping off. Guys have been working really hard in practice and it’s starting to show some fruition,” said Noblesville head coach Justin Keever. “We’ve got to keep it up. Hitting is fleeting, so we’ve got to stay locked in.”

Starting pitcher Adam Gaskill struck out a pair of Bruins for the second time in two innings and was cruising on the mound.

“Adam’s done a nice job, especially the back half of that outing,” said Keever. “He found his slider and he struggled with it early. He was able to start landing his slider a little bit and it helped him set up his fastball a little better, too.”

The bottom of the second added a couple more runs. Zac Glander was hit by a pitch with one out and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Schott drove in Reynolds for a 5-0 score on a solid hit to shallow center.

“I think the dynamics are a little different from last year, too. It’s a different team and a different game board,” said Keever. “I think our kids are doing a nice job being who they are. The idea is to get a pitch you can drive and they’re doing that.”

Tri-West starter Logan Haboush hit Aiden Ramsey, his third in as many innings, to start off the last of the third. Chris Martz reached on an error, scoring Ramsey to push it to 6-0. Martz sprinted home on a wild pitch with Trevor Corbett up for 7-0. Corbett singled to center and moved to second on a fielding error.

Reynolds then hit his second double of the night, driving in Corbett for a 8-0 advantage.

Two groundouts and a fly out by Gaskill sent the Bruins down in order in the top of the fourth.

Miller walked to lead off the home half of the fourth. Hagelskamp hit a long single to the corner in left for two on. Martz doubled to left, plating Hagelskamp to put Noblesville up 9-0. Glander got on via an error from the Bruins’ third baseman, allowing Ramsey to score from third for the final run.

Gaskill struck out the first hitter in the fifth. Joe Glander relieved Gaskill and followed suit, fanning the final two hitters of the game to preserve the one-hit shutout in five innings for the Millers.

Gaskill (3-2) finished with six strikeouts in 4.1 innings, allowing just one hit, hitting one and not allowing a walk.

Reynolds and Hagelskamp both had two hits. Martz, Hagelskamp and Reynolds all three had two RBIs with Reynolds and Ramsey both scoring twice.

Noblesville (15-8, 8-3 HCC) has now won 10 games in a row. The Millers get back to conference play on Monday at home at 6:30 p.m. against Brownsburg (13-6, 5-6 HCC). This game was originally slated for this past Friday night, but severe weather postponed Game 2 of the series to Monday.