By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent 

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CARMEL – Class 4A No. 3 Zionsville remained undefeated with a 3-0 road win Thursday over Carmel at Hartman Field. 

The Eagles (8-0-1) went right to work, scoring twice in the top of the first against senior righty Ben Clevenger, who started for the 4A No. 6 Greyhounds (2-3).  

Zionsville’s Jacob Hurtubise opened the contest with an infield hit and stole second.  Hurtubise went to third on a wild pitch and came in on Nolan Elsbury’s sacrifice fly. 

Jordan Cox, the next batter, singled sharply off the glove of Carmel first baseman Rhett Wintner.  Cox stole second and rode home one out later on Nick Prather’s base hit to left. 

Prather, a senior right-hander, took the mound for Zionsville and had the Greyhounds off-balance all evening.   The Florida Atlantic University signee pitched no-hit ball into the bottom of the fourth, when J.C. Hanley lined a shot to left for Carmel’s first safety.   

The Eagles added another run in the top of the fifth.  Stephen Damm led off with a walk and Garrett Hill pinch-ran for him.  Riley Bertram followed with a sacrifice bunt.  Hill moved up on the play, and raced to third when no one covered the base. 

Hurtubise, Zionsville’s senior center fielder, followed with a fly ball to left that plated Hill to extend the Eagles’ advantage. 

Meanwhile, Prather – whose fastball touched 92 miles per hour – continued to stifle the Greyhound batters.  He allowed one more hit, a sixth-inning single to Parker Massman, before giving way to Jordan Cox.  

Cox, who opened the game at first base, came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh. The right-hander retired the first batter he saw on a foul pop-up and got the next hitter on a called third strike before giving up a single to Jackson Van Remortel.  Cox fanned the next batter to close out the one hour, forty-minute contest. 

The line on the 6-1, 205-pound Prather included seven strikeouts, no walks and a hit batsman over six innings.  “My breaking ball wasn’t really working for me,” he said.  “I just threw my fastball.  I think I gave up only two hits the whole game.  I was throwing a lot of fastballs away.  My off-speed just wasn’t working.”     

Clevenger, who took the loss for Carmel, doled out four hits and two walks over five innings while fanning three.  Senior southpaw Seth Keeling pitched hitless ball for the last two frames, notching four strikeouts.      

Although they’re undefeated this season, coach Jered Moore’s Eagles have yet to win a game at their home field.  Zionsville has played all its games either on the road or at Grand Park in Westfield.       

Zionsville’s next contest is Friday at Class 3A #10 Lebanon, while coach Dan Roman’s Greyhounds host Peru on Saturday. 

Pete Cava is the author of Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players; A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014, now available from McFarland Publishers.