FIRST 14th DISTRICT TITLE SINCE 2013.
GREENWOOD’s JASON JAGGERS: “WE’VE COME CLOSE … AND WE FINALLY GOT IT DONE”
They didn’t want to leave.
The Greenwood Gators, a resourceful bunch with a team batting average floating just north of .280, fulfilled a major goal by claiming the school’s first KHSAA 14th District championship in 11 years on Tuesday night.
They met as a team, after the all-district squad was introduced at Bowling Green High School’s Harold J. Stihl Field, and they converged on the artificial turf in right-center field to celebrate their breakthrough victory with smiles, hugs, handshakes, interviews, some teenage hijinks and the omnipresent professional wrasslin’ belt.
Greenwood left-hander Chaze Huff was holding the belt, rather than wearing it, and the Gators have plenty of other goals to pursue before packing it in for the summer. Greenwood capitalized on South Warren’s defensive odyssey in the bottom of the fifth inning, striking for four runs to stop the Spartans, 6-3, before an overflow crowd at BGHS.
South Warren, a KHSAA state tournament quarterfinalist last season, survived Monday’s No. 2-vs.-No. 3 ‘cut-throat’ semifinal game against the eighth-ranked Purples, the home team playing on their recently refurbished artificial turf surface. The Spartans won that one convincingly, 6-2, and they still had plenty of pitching for the championship game.
The Gators just had a little more.
ON MONDAY AT WKU’s NICK DENES FIELD.
WITH A 4-SPOT IN THE FIFTH.
TO CLOSE IT OUT FOR GREENWOOD.
AFTER THEIR 6-3 VICTORY OVER SOUTH WARREN.
“We’ve hung our hat on pitching and defense all year long,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said. “I mean, it’s huge … There have been times, I thought, where we were a little bit snakebit. We’ve lost one-run games (for the 14th District championship), we’ve lost two-run games, we’ve lost in extra innings … It’s been hard to get over the hump …
“We’ve come close …. and we finally got it done.”
Greenwood right-hander Nathan Howard guided his team through four solid innings before yielding to Huff, the junior lefty. Howard stopped the Spartans, 9-2, at South Warren Ballpark on April 30, before Greenwood endured a four-game losing streak. The Gators now have won four straight and they’ll take a 26-9 overall record into next week’s KHSAA 4th Region Tournament at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.
Howard earned his eighth victory in nine decisions, while South right-hander Camden Page took the loss.
South Warren dropped to 18-17 overall, but that’s a deceiving record. The Spartans will be a team to watch at WKU, and like Greenwood, they’re a squad teeming with talented underclassmen. Greenwood and South Warren will learn of their first-round 4th Region opponents when the draw is held at BGHS on Friday morning.
CROSSES THE PLATE AFTER HIS
NINTH HOME RUN OF THE SEASON.
TRAFFIC AFTER A PITCH GETS AWAY
FROM SOUTH’s JOSEPH FENTRESS.
BY TEAMMATES NATHAN HOWARD (LEFT) & CHAZE HUFF.
FOR DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
IN NEXT WEEK’s 4th REGION TOURNAMENT.
“(Greenwood) scored their first four runs on walks, so that’s not a winning formula for us,” South Warren coach Chris Gage said.
The Gators scratched out single runs in the bottom of the second and third innings, grabbing the early 2-0 lead. Howard walked on four pitches with one out in the second, and two wild pitches from the Spartans’ Camden Page sent courtesy runner Easton Talley to third base.
Talley scored on Jackson Lee’s infield single, with two outs, before Greenwood’s Zach Davis drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third inning.
The Gators, who excel at bunting and advancing the runner, used that approach in getting Davis to third base. Davis scored on a wild pitch, leaving the Spartans with a 2-0 deficit after the third.
“We just get runs in … we find a way,” said Greenwood star first baseman Andrew Jolly.
IN POSTING THEIR THIRD VICTORY
OVER SOUTH WARREN THIS SEASON.
SOUTH INFIELDER TY CROGHAN ON A
SOFT LINE DRIVE TO END THE FIFTH INNING.
IN THE SECOND AND THIRD INNINGS.
HIS EIGHTH VICTORY IN NINE DECISIONS.
Davis again drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, this time on four pitches from South’s Thomas Lambert, and he again moved into third on two wild pitches. Jolly came through with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, extending the Greenwood lead to 3-1, and the Spartans’ defensive misadventures allowed the Gators to put up a 4-spot.
A delayed double steal brought the Gators’ Reed McClard across the plate, and the Spartans’ errors allowed Greenwood to break it open.
South Warren’s junior football/baseball star, Ethan Reynolds, ripped a leadoff double to left-center field and scored on Ty Croghan’s line-drive single with no outs in the fourth. The Spartans loaded the bases with two outs, but Greenwood’s Nathan Howard slipped a called third strike past South’s Joseph Fentress, ending the threat.
“Greenwood is a good team, and they play well together, so props to them,” Reynolds said via text message on Tuesday night.
Reynolds unloaded his team-high ninth home run of the season, a solo shot into the woods beyond the left-field fence, with two outs in the seventh. But Greenwood’s Chaze Huff retired South’s slick-fielding shortstop, Griffin Rardin, on a ground ball to end it, giving the Gators their third victory in as many tries against the Spartans.
“I put my team in a spot to win, and the win is what matters,” Howard said.
IMPROVING TO 26-9 ON THE SEASON.
AND HIS TEAM EXCEL AT “SMALL BALL.”
Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers thought he might need as many as three pitchers to complete the task at hand, but Huff took care of that little detail, working three innings after Howard’s departure.
“I really felt confident, the way Nathan dealt … he really did his part,” Huff said. “I was supposed to just go two innings, and then have James (Russell) close it out, but then we got out of those two jams. (Greenwood) believed in me, and we got it done.”
EARNED HIS FIFTH SAVE OF THE SEASON.
Jaggers has compiled a career record of 255-182 since succeeding Chris Decker as the Gators’ head coach in 2011. Greenwood slipped past South Warren, 6-5, for the KHSAA 14th District championship in 2013, when most of his current players were still in knee pants.
He shared the moment with his family, with an eye cast toward the 4th Region Tournament at WKU.
“After the handshake line,” Jaggers said, “I went back to the dugout and sat by myself, and kind of soaked it all in … I’d like to compete a little better, at the dish (in 4th Region play), but this is a special group.”
TO THE KHSAA 4th REGION TOURNAMENT.
WAS INTRODUCED AFTER THE GAME.
