Jim Mashek

U OF L SIGNEE REMAINS UNBEATEN IN SIX DECISIONS; PURPLES LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST E-TOWN ON SATURDAY

Zach Davis and Greenwood High School’s baseball team were looking for a lift.

The 11th-ranked Gators, looking for the inside track to the KHSAA’s 4th Region Tournament during the Memorial Day weekend, had struck for a single run in the first inning of Tuesday evening’s 14th District regular-season finale against Bowling Green High School.

The Purples threatened in the top of the fourth.

The winner of Tuesday’s game would move into the No. 1 seed role for the 14th District Tournament in less than two weeks, and BGHS outfielder Dru Jones led off the inning with a line-drive single to left-center field.

Jones moved into second base on a high hopper off the bat of the Purples’ Harrison Yates, but he wouldn’t remain in scoring position much longer. Davis, the Gators’ senior shortstop/pitcher, stepped off the rubber and faked a pickoff throw to second base. Greenwood’s players faked an errant pickoff throw into center field — they’d committed four errors in Monday’s disheartening 5-4 loss to the Purples at BGHS — and Davis caught Yates in a rundown between second and third.

The Purples would collect three more hits in that inning, the last a run-scoring single from James Yarbrough that would the game at 1, before Greenwood’s Chaze Huff made a spectacular catch on Evan Schallert’s looping line drive inside the left-field line to retire the side.

Greenwood would respond with two runs in the bottom of the inning, with Davis himself delivering a two-run single to center field with two out. Then, in the sixth, the Gators put up a 4-spot.

Greenwood left Bowling Green in the dust, claiming a 7-1 victory before a big crowd at Corey Hart Ballpark/Aaron Fletcher Field.

One successful hidden-ball trick. One run, total, for the opponent.

“I’ve been running that play since I was the JV coach here,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said. “It worked last week … Worst-case scenario, (the base runner) stays on the bag. Best-case scenario, we get the out …

“We were able to limit the damage in that inning, and I thought that was key.”

Greenwood improved to 21-6 overall and 4-2 in the KHSAA’s 14th District. The Gators will travel across the state on Saturday for a doubleheader against Highlands High School (18-6-1 overall) in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Bowling Green (17-9 overall and 4-2 in the 14th) resumes its schedule with two road games scheduled for Saturday, one against Elizabethtown (17-5 overall) and the other against perennial 4th Region power Russell County (18-9 overall).

“I’ve said all along, this is a very tough district,” BGHS coach Nathan Isenberg said. “Greenwood, South Warren and us all split, head-to-head. That tells you a lot … We’ve been banged up with some injuries, but we’ve got to move forward, get ourselves ready for the district tournament.”

Bowling Green and South Warren (19-6, 4-2 in the 14th) will play in the tournament’s 2-3 game, with the losing team sidelined for the season. Greenwood will face Warren Central (0-10, 0-6) in the other semifinal.

This night, however, belonged to Zach Davis and the Gatahs.

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Davis, who has signed with the University of Louisville, went the distance against the Purples. He scattered eight hits, all of them singles, while striking out four batters and walking two. Davis remained unbeaten in six decisions, while dropping his earned-run average to a miniscule 0.41.

(He’d probably pitch more, but Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers likes his defense at shortstop, so he’s usually the No. 2 pitcher in the rotation, behind fellow senior right-hander Nathan Howard.)

“Zach’s a bulldog, he’s a gamer,” Jaggers said. “He always rises to the occasion.”

Easton Talley, the Gators’ senior catcher, said he had a hunch that Davis would deliver. The Gators dropped a tough one, 5-4, on Monday night to Bowling Green, but they came back with a vengeance.

“I think that’s the best Zach has pitched all year,” Talley said.

Jaggers put Davis’ pitch count at 102, with 61 of them going for strikes. Senior BGHS right-hander Eli Kries kept his team in the game, until departing in the bottom of the fourth after Davis’ two-run single put Greenwood in front, 3-1.

“I took that loss (on Monday) on myself,” Davis said. “I made an error on a routine ground ball (in the bottom of the seventh inning) that led to the winning run. It was my job to show up, for my teammates.

“I felt nothing but adrenaline out there.”

The Gators played strong defense down the stretch. Senior catcher Easton Talley caught the Purples’ Harrison Yates trying to steal second after leading off with a single in the sixth. Davis retired five of the last six BGHS batters he faced, bringing the Gators out of their dugout to celebrate their Victory No. 21 on the season.

They’ll soon be harder to come by, as it’s a single-elimination format in the 4th Region Tournament and beyond.

“We just want to go as far as we can,” said Greenwood first baseman Andrew Jolly, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI. “I think we have the kind of team that can get there (to the KHSAA state tournament in Lexington).”

Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers told his squad to concentrate on the task at hand, at least until the final out had been recorded. Everyone understood the stakes of the game, including the seeding for the district tournament, but Jaggers just wanted his team to stick with its normal routine.

“We didn’t talk to the boys about any of that,” he said. “We just told them to flip the page (from Monday night), and move on to the next game. We had a good round of BP (batting practice). I thought our kids were locked in. They did what they needed to do.”

South Warren (19-6 overall, 4-2 in the 14th District) completed its sweep of Warren Central, claiming a 15-0 victory in three innings. The Spartans will face Hazard High School on Friday night in the Eli Hill Invitational in Corbin, Kentucky.