Noah Miller sheds catching gear, leads Monroe to baseball win over Bedford

TEMPERANCE – Noah Miller is a catcher by trade.

That’s how he earned a college baseball scholarship to Division 1 Cincinnati.

But above all, he is an athlete and a competitor.

Wednesday he shed the catcher’s equipment to help Monroe earn one of its biggest wins of the season.

VIDEO:Monroe at Bedford baseball

Miller went 3-for-3 with four RBI, pitched a two-hit shutout and made two outstanding defensive plays to lead the Trojans to a 10-0 win over Bedford.

“He’s one of those kids you get every once in a while,” Monroe coach Bubba Bezeau said. “He just plays hard every time.”

“He’s a good ballplayer,” added Bedford coach Craig Trychel.

Bezeau called it Miller’s best pitching performance of the season.

The junior gave up an infield single to Noah Weiher in the first and a sharp double down the rightfield line by Brady Pridgeon to open the fifth.

He was effectively wild with five strikeouts and five walks in a game that was halted after five innings by the 10-run mercy rule.

“Everything was working,” Miller said. “I tried to use my fastball early, then work in the off-speed stuff.”

“His breaking ball was great today,” Bezeau said.

Bedford threatened in the first, loading the bases with one out. Ashton Elmer ended that threat by snaring a line drive in centerfield and turning it into a double play.

Pridgeon made it to third with one out following his double in the fifth but tried to score on a wild pitch and was cut down as catcher Garrett LaBeau scampered to track down the ball and fired it to Miller covering the plate.

“That was pure adrenalin,” Miller said. “As soon as I saw it get by him, I knew I had to cover the plate.”

Miller’s other defensive gem ended the fourth inning.

Bedford’s Aidan Reed topped a slow roller down the first-base line.

Miller exploded off the mound to snare the ball just before it went foul then dove and tagged first base with his glove.

“That was instinct,” he said. “It might have rolled foul, but anytime you have a chance to get an out against Bedford, you have to do it.”

Miller gave LaBeau a lot of credit for the shutout.

“He’s a great catcher,” he said. “We are both catchers, so we think alike. We are one out there.”

Miller also had a great day at the plate.

He stroked RBI singles in the first and second innings, then was hit by a pitch in the fourth and scored a run. He ended his night with a two-run single in the fifth.

Elmer was the other offensive standout.

He went 3-for-4 with two-run double in the fourth and an RBI single in the fifth.

LaBeau had two hits and Braylon Richards and Tristin Panza contributed RBI singles.

Owen Yount tripled to lead off the game, got on base all four trips to the plate and scored three times.

“It always helps when your lead-off guy gets on,” Bezeau said. “Owen has been on a tear.”

Yount delivered the winning hit in the eighth inning Monday when Monroe and Bedford split two very competitive games.

A mercy-rule game surprised both coaches.

“I did not expect that,” Bezeau said. “That never happens against Bedford. They’ve waxed us a lot more than we’ve ever done that against them.

“That’s something that happens in baseball,” Trychel said. “When the game started, the kids were up. I liked their enthusiasm. We were ready to play. Things started rolling downhill and we couldn’t stop it.”

Monroe improved to 14-5.

“A lot of us have played together since we were young,” Miller said. “We’re starting to play the way we should have since the beginning. We have more fire now.”

Bezeau agreed.

“We hit the ball well, played good defense and pitched well today,” the coach said. “We’ve been preaching about playing as a team and we did that today.”

The Trojans are in the thick of the Southeastern Conference race with a 9-4 record, two games behind pacesetter Dexter. Saline has three losses and Bedford has five.

Monroe and Dexter will play three games against each other next week while Bedford and Saline battle three times.

“It’s a great league,” Bezeau said. “If it’s not the best baseball league in the state, it’s one of them.”

Bedford, 15-7 overall, needs to regroup quickly.

“I don’t think we were aggressive enough today,” Trychel said. “This is a game we just have to forget. There's nothing we can do about it now. We can’t let it fester.”

Bedford won the junior varsity game 10-1 behind strong pitching from Aiden Schoch and Hunter Poignon. Luke Davis and Max Groff each had two hits apiece and Brendan Korsnack, Gabe Bock and Robbie Gossard all had two RBI for the 13-5 Mules.