Noblesville walks off Greenfield-Central in extras

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

NOBLESVILLE – Greenfield-Central came to Noblesville’s Dunker Field on Monday riding a three-game winning streak and started off that game with confidence. But the Millers’ pitching and home-field momentum helped shift Noblesville to the win in eight innings over the Cougars, 8-7.

The Cougars got started in the first inning against sophomore lefty Griffin Snider. Hayden Zellars led off with a walk and Brady Johnson moved him over to third on a fielder’s choice. Hayden Kidd singled to left to score Zellars for a 1-0 lead.

The Millers tied it up 1-1 in the bottom of the inning. Trevor Corbett and Cole Schott walked consecutively, and Corbett would go home on a Luke Hagelskamp single up the middle.

Greenfield-Central added three more in the second to jump out to a 4-1 advantage. A total of five walks were given up in the inning by Snider, freshman Paul Stewart and sophomore Eli Hall.

Noblesville cut the deficit in half to 4-2 with two down in the home half of the third. Corbett was hit by a pitch with one out. After stealing second, Tanner Miller drove Corbett in on a base hit to shallow center.

Kidd drove in another run in the fourth to make it 5-2, putting the Millers in a hole.

Aiden Ramsey drew a leadoff, one-out walk. He then stole second with Chris Martz up and was balked over to third. Martz drove Ramsey home for a 5-3 score. Three more walks and three hit by pitches aided the Millers scoring five to grab a 7-5 lead.

Corbett was cruising on the mound, but the meat of the Cougar order managed three hits that produced two more runs, knotting the seesaw affair at 7-7.

Greenfield reliever Carson Richardson sent the Millers down in order in the bottom of the seventh, forcing extra innings.

Corbett had complete control on the hill in the eighth, mowing down all three Greenfield-Central hitters, striking them out in order, giving him nine Ks on the night in five innings of relief.

With an amped-up home crowd, Corbett walked to start the Miller eighth. Freshman Zac Glander came in to courtesy run. Schott singled to shallow right center and Tanner Miller bunted to get on for a bases-loaded situation. Then, Luke Hagelskamp faced an 0-2 count with no outs. The senior designated hitter took advantage of the infield playing up and sent a hard ground ball between the first and second basemen, sending the frosh Glander home for the game-winning run and a walk-off win over a feisty Greenfield-Central squad.

No. 10 Noblesville improves to 5-5 with its second win in a row. The Millers take a 1-1 Hoosier Crossroads Conference record into a pivotal series with the No. 3 Fishers Tigers (7-1, 2-0 HCC) on the road tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. in the first game of the HCC series. Game two concludes the series on Friday night at Dunker Field at 7 p.m.