Winders works out of jam in 'Hounds win; Anderson regroups in 'Rocks victory over Eagles

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the second inning of Wednesday's Sectional 8 opener between Carmel and Noblesville, Greyhound coach Ty Neal didn't need to give pitcher Max Winders a great rah-rah speech to get him to refocus.

"You get on them a little bit, but you remind them how good they are," Neal said. "(Winders) is a bulldog. He's competitive. He's such a mature young man, we had a real conversation.

"I think he got away from himself and who he is and what works for him. That's our job as coaches on game day is just kind of get our guys back."

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Whatever was said during the mound visit lit a fire under the Western Kentucky commit. Winders responded with a dominant inning, firing his fastball past Noblesville batters, striking out the side and leaving the bases loaded. The first person to greet Winders as he walked off the mound was a fired-up Neal, sharing a chest bump with his pitcher.

Winders helped Carmel preserve its lead and the Greyhound went on to defeat Noblesville 4-2. Winder finished with 10 strikeouts over 4⅔ innings. Cal Carmichael and Theo Nagy closed out the Millers (22-7) in relief.

Carmel (18-10) advances to face Westfield in the Sectional semifinal on Friday.

"What I was thinking when I got into the jam was just a pitch to contact," Winders said. "Maybe one run comes across and hope for the best. ... I just really believed in myself and coach (Neal) really believed in me. We had some good signs from the catcher, freshman Jackson Harris, he did a great job today and it led to three K's.

James Charland's RBI single put Carmel ahead in the second inning. Gabe Mathison added an RBI double in the third. Silas Neal scored on a Tyler Walkey sacrifice fly in the fourth and Joseph Cunningham added an RBI single in the seventh. J.D. Stein led Carmel going 3-for-4 with two doubles, one triple and a run scored. Mathison went 2-for-4 with two doubles.

Nolan Decker and Tanner Will drove in Noblesville's runs in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively. Decker finished 2-for-4.

Ty Anderson bounces back from slow start, leads 'Rocks past Eagles

Early in Wednesday's Sectional opener, the Zionsville offense did a great job of timing up Westfield starter Ty Anderson. The Eagles drew walks and strung together hits, shrinking their five-run deficit to one after three innings.

Zionsville lifted its starter Mateo Wells after his slow start, but Westfield coach Ryan Bunnell left Anderson in the game. Then, after three rough innings, something clicked for Anderson. His fastball looked more explosive coming out of his hand and he upped his tempo on the mound, getting the ball and instantly starting his wind up, wasting little time in between pitches.

The re-energized Anderson shut down the Eagles, recording eight of his 10 strikeouts after the third. The Eastern Illinois commit allowed just one hit and one walk from the fourth to the sixth inning. Sam Everts pitched a clean seven for the save, giving Westfield a 6-4 win over Zionsville.

"My teammates, they helped a lot," Anderson said after his 112-pitch outing. "They really had my back throughout the whole thing. When I was down, they were picking me up. When they were down, I was picking them up. It was a really good team game."

Matt Drozlek started the scoring with a two-RBI single in the first. Alex Rudolph followed with a RBI double. Drozlek plated another run with an RBI hit-by-pitch and Drew Law scored on a wild pitch in the second. Nick Fero's RBI single plated Westfield's final run in the fifth.

Zionsville did all of its damage early. Jack Tielker, Josh Girvan and Tyler Hughes had RBI singles in the second. Brayden Ring's RBI single scored the Eagles' final run in the third. Tielker led Zionsville going 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored and one RBI.

"It certainly wasn't (Anderson's) most efficient (start), but he did settle in," Bunnell said. "It seemed like after the third a switch flipped for him. He just became a lot more focused on the things that he could control.

"Early he let some calls kind of get to him and things like that. He did a great job of settling in, and then he was just like locked in and focused, Ty's really good when he's that way."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA Baseball: Carmel, Westfield advance to Sectional semifinals