Hostetler strikes out nine in Miller shutout of Kokomo

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

NOBLESVILLE – Monday night’s meeting with Kokomo at Dunker Field was one that helped the Millers relieve some of the stress of dropping two Hoosier Crossroads Conference games last week.

Noblesville took out their frustrations on the Kokomo Wildkats in five innings, 14-0.

Sophomore Rhett Hostetler couldn’t have been more focused on the mound. Making his fourth appearance, Hostetler (2-0) was simply mowing down the visiting hitters. He struck out two in the first, three in the second, another in the third and three more in the fourth for nine total punch outs.

The Millers’ bats surely held up to their end of the bargain. Freshman Luke Stevenson led off with a single up the middle. Aiden Reynolds reached on a hard hit grounder to short. Slade Hodges followed up with a walk, loading the bases with no outs. A few hitters later with two down, Jalen Stidham hit a bases-clearing double to right for a 3-0 lead after one.

Noblesville put five more on the board in the second to push it to 8-0. With the bases loaded, Brooks Riggs was hit by a pitch, sending Martz walking home for 4-0. Next, with the bags still loaded, Jackson Graf drove a long fly ball over the head of Kokomo’s centerfielder, emptying the bases and scoring himself for an inside-the-park home run.

Reynolds hit a two-run single to left to make it 10-0. Hodges drove in Stevenson for an 11-0 cushion through three.

The Millers weren’t done. Pinch hitter Brady Plunkett got plunked to start off the home half of the fourth. Logan Hash also came off the bench and walked. Plunkett moved to second on a balk, to third on a wild pitch and scored. Stevenson plated the 13th run, scoring pinch runner Eli Hall, when he reached on an error. Pinch hitter Paul Stewart hit a sacrifice fly to left, allowing Blake Riggs to score for the 14-run rout.

The Millers were led by Graf (4), Stidham (3) and Reynolds (2) driving in a majority of their runs. Along with Hostetler’s nine strikeouts, reliever Ryan Ruse fanned two of the three hitters he faced in the top of the fifth to close out the Wildkats.

Noblesville (14-9, 7-3 HCC) gets back to conference action on Thursday when it hosts the Brownsburg Bulldogs (8-9, 5-5 HCC) at 6:30 p.m.