(ABOVE LEFT) Hamilton Southeastern’s Jackson Bixler batted in two runs for the Royals during their Sectional 8 win over Carmel on Thursday. (ABOVE CENTER) Carmel’s Jackson Treadway went 2-for-2 at the plate for the Greyhounds. (ABOVE RIGHT) Noblesville’s Aiden Reynolds had two hits. (Richie Hall)
The REPORTER
The first round of baseball games at Sectional 8 finally were played Thursday at Noblesville’s Don Dunker Field after a one-day weather delay.
Hamilton Southeastern got the first victory, beating Carmel 7-1. The Royals advance to tonight’s semifinals to take on Zionsville; the Eagles beat the host Millers 7-4 in Thursday’s second game.
Playing as the away team, Southeastern scored three runs in the top of the first inning. Cy Cole batted in Jackson Bixler for HSE’s first run, then Alex Shepherd doubled in Cole for the second run. Karson Seitz came in to run for Shepherd, and he was sent home by a Chase Bradle single.
The Royals took further control of the game in the third running, putting up four runs. Bradle batted in Cole, then was singled in by Kian Kelly. Bixler came up next and sent a base hit into left field, driving in Kelly and Nick Bach.
The Greyhounds scored their run in the fifth inning. Jackson Treadway batted in Max Walkey.
Cole was 3-for-4 at the plate, with Bradle and Kelly collecting two hits each. Spencer Mohr left to an ovation after 6.2 innings, striking out one and allowing six hits. Bradle pitched the final at-bat, inducing a groundout to end the game. The Royals improved to 20-9.
Treadway was 2-for-2 batting for Carmel, which finished its season 11-15.
Late scoring
The Millers were fired up early. Jalen Stidham hit a leadoff home run in the second inning to get Noblesville on the board, while starting pitcher Beckett Doane got out of bases-loaded jams in the first and third innings.
The Eagles tied the game in the fourth inning, then scored three runs in the fifth inning for a 4-1 lead. The Millers came back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth: Christopher Martz scored on Zac Glander’s sacrifice fly, then Ethan Clark was brought home by a Slade Hodges single.
With that, Noblesville was within 4-3. But Zionsville surged forward again, scoring three runs in the sixth inning for a 7-3 lead. The Millers got a run in the seventh inning: Aiden Reynolds led off with a single, moved to third base on Glander’s double, then scored on Hodges’ RBI fielder’s choice. But Zionsville got the next two outs to end the game.
Reynolds finished with two hits, while Doane threw five strikeouts. Noblesville finished its season 20-9.
