Jim Mashek

GREENWOOD’s ANDY JOLLY, EASTON TALLEY UNLOAD TWO-RUN, FIRST-INNING HOME RUNS; GATORS, SPARTANS MOVE ON TO 4th REGION TOURNAMENT

Easton Talley, Greenwood High School’s senior catcher, had a premonition Wednesday evening after teammate Nathan Howard finished warming up in the Gators’ bullpen.

Greenwood was gunning for its second consecutive KHSAA 14th District championship, but it wasn’t a cut-throat environment, in that the Gators and visiting South Warren High School are both advancing to next week’s 4th Region Tournament at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

Tournament seeding can be important, however, and the Gators had not lost a game since dropping a 5-4 decision to Bowling Green High School on May 5. Greenwood turned the tables on the Purples the next night, rolling to a 7-1 victory, and the Gators took a six-game winning streak into Wednesday’s high-profile game at Corey Hart Ballpark/Aaron Fletcher Field.

Make that a seven-game winning streak.

Howard, the Gators’ 6-foot-1 senior right-hander, retired the first 12 batters he faced and took a no-hit bid into the top of the sixth inning. South Warren’s Joseph Fentress reached safely on an infield single with two outs, and Spartans teammate Camden Page followed suit, but Howard didn’t flinch. He retired South’s Junior Perkins on a routine fly ball to center field, and the Gators were on their way to back-to-back 14th District championships.

Greenwood 6, South Warren 0.

“Me and Nathan were in the bullpen before the game,” Greenwood catcher Easton Talley said. “He finished up with a curveball, and I looked back at the dude behind me and said, ‘He’s throwing a complete game tonight.’

“He’s had a couple ‘iffy’ starts in the last two or three weeks, but he’s always buckling down. He was READY to pitch.”

Howard needed just 80 pitches to finish his second seven-inning complete game of the season. His curveball was biting, and that put the Gators on the path to an impressive victory.

“He’s a ‘dawg.’ That’s why we call him ‘Nate Dawg,'” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said.

Greenwood improved to 27-6 overall, while the Spartans dropped to 27-8. Both teams will learn of their quarterfinal opponent in 4th Region play when the tournament draw takes place on Saturday morning at Allen County-Scottsville High School.

South Warren coach Chris Gage acknowledged the Spartans’ hard-fought victory, a 5-2 win over Bowling Green on Monday night, might have played into the Gators’ hands on Wednesday, after the title game was washed out 24 hours earlier. South used three pitchers in the Bowling Green game, including ace left-hander Mikey Coradini, while the Gators capitalized on a favorable matchup in breezing past winless Warren Central, 15-0, in just three innings.

“They were able to keep their ace (Howard) back,” Gage told Micheal Compton of the Bowling Green Daily News. “We had a really tough game with Bowling Green. It’s hard to come back … We have to be tougher, and come out a little stronger, after a tough game like that.”

Howard earned his sixth victory in eight decisions. He struck out seven SWHS batters and did not allow a walk. South Warren shortstop Griffin Rardin led off the top of the seventh with a line-drive single to left field, but Howard retired the next three batters he faced, and the Gators could celebrate their 14th District championship on their home turf.

“The last six weeks or so, we’ve started to swing the bat extremely well,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said. “But everyone’s 0-and-0 now, going into the region tournament. I tell the boys, it’s all going to go by so fast. Especially the seniors. I want them to be able to enjoy it.

“We always preach throwing strikes, staying ahead in the count, and letting the defense do the work.”

Check, check, and check, please.

It was a splendid, sun-splashed day for baseball, with crosswinds that kicked up from time to time. The Gators’ familiarity with their home ballpark might have paid dividends there, as Greenwood teammates Andy Jolly and Easton Talley both unloaded two-run home runs in the bottom of the first inning.

After leadoff man Zach Davis reached on a South Warren error, Jolly turned on an 0-2 pitch from the Spartans’ Austin Allen for a towering two-run home run to right field. It was his team-leading third home run of the season.

“I put a pretty good swing on it,” Jolly said.

Greenwood’s Jackson Lee lined a single to right-center field with two outs in the first, and Talley followed with a home run that tucked in just inside the right-field foul pole. It was Talley’s first home run of the season, and the second of his high school career.

“The ball didn’t look like it was hit THAT hard,” Talley said. “But it just kept going, and going …”

Jolly added an RBI single in the second inning, scoring Greenwood teammate Whit Glossick, and leadoff man Zach Davis ripped an RBI double off the fence in left-center field in the fourth, bringing teammate Jake Fleckinger across the plate.

Howard seldom went to three balls in the count, and the Spartans had just one base runner, Joseph Fentress, reach third base.

It was just another day at the office for Howard, who will be pitching next year at Oakland City University, a faith-based, four-year NAIA school in Oakland City, Indiana.

“My goal today was to just pound the zone,” Howard said. “I’ve had a couple rocky outings, so I just concentrated on throwing strikes. The fastball and the slider helped set me up for the curveball.”

South Warren will face a district champion, either Barren County, Logan County or defending 4th Region champion Russell County, in 4th Region quarterfinal play next week. Conversely, the Gators will be paired with a district runner-up, with the possibilities including former 14th District rival Warren East, Franklin-Simpson or Monroe County.

Greenwood is looking for its first trip to the state tournament, in school history, while South’s Chris Gage has taken the Spartans to the state quarterfinals three times, most recently in 2023.