Noblesville grabs HCC edge with win over Brownsburg

By CRAIG ADKINS

 For The Reporter

NOBLESVILLE – Coming into Thursday night’s series opener against Brownsburg at Dunker Field, Noblesville was tied for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference with Hamilton Southeastern.

Westfield won 5-4 on the road at HSE and the Millers took care of business in defeating the visiting Bulldogs in the first game of the series, 7-2. This gives Noblesville a slight edge heading into tonight’s series finale in Hendricks County.

Southpaw hurler Beckett Doane got into a groove right away in the first, striking out three of the five he faced.

“I thought Beckett was great tonight. There were times they got to him and he eventually ran out of gas,” said Noblesville head coach Justin Keever.

Ethan Clark was back in the lineup and walked to lead off the bottom. Aiden Reynolds singled to left and then both he and Clark moved up on Zac Glander’s ground out to third. Clark scored on an error by pitcher Cole Sabelhaus. Slade Hodges made it 2-0, grounding on a rope into center, scoring Reynolds.

Doane struck out an additional five over the next four and two-thirds for eight punchouts and he walked just two.

“I thought he pitched well. They’re a good hitting team. They’ve got some pop. We’ll have to play well tomorrow to get them at their place,” continued Keever.

The Millers grabbed a couple runs before Doane exited. Brooks Riggs took the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth and launched it down the left field line, hitting the foul pole for a solo home run and a 3-0 score.

Jalen Stidham walked and sprinted to third when Garrett Dixon hit a hard ground ball to left. Two batters later, Chris Martz laid down a sacrifice bunt to squeeze Stidham home to push it to 5-0.

Eathan Cougill hit a one-out double in the top of the fifth for the Bulldogs and was driven in by Luke Padgett for a 5-1 count.

“Ethan Clark made some really good plays in the outfield tonight. I thought our bats, for the most part, were really competitive. Their starter (Sabelhaus) has good stuff,” added Keever. “He’s 88 to 90 and has a decent breaking ball and a good change-up. He’s a tough one and we were able to grind him up and get him out.”

Reynolds led off with a hit in the fifth and stole second. Hodges and Brooks Riggs both walked, loading the bases. Reynolds scored on a balk by Nathan Peck on the mound. Hodges ran home safely on a wild pitch. Pinch runner Ryan Ruse also scored on an error by the catcher and it was 7-1.

“They made some mistakes tonight that we took advantage of, but I’m really happy for our win,” Keever said.  “We’re going to have to play better tomorrow, if we’re going to get the sweep.”

Brownsburg got their second run off of reliever Griffin Snider in the sixth, but he sent them down in order in the seventh with a pair of fly outs and struck out Brayden Thompson to end the game.

Doane (5-1) and Snider combined for 10 strikeouts and three walks, along with each giving up three hits.

Along with Brooks Riggs’ third home run of the season, Reynolds went 2-for-4 with two runs. Hodges and Martz also had run-producing hits.

Noblesville (15-9, 8-3 HCC) heads to Brownsburg tonight for the second game of the series with the Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s afternoon game against the Tri-West Bruins (13-9) is Senior Day and a 1 p.m. first pitch.