Jim Mashek

PURPLES RIGHT-HANDER LOGAN JOHNSON SCATTERS EIGHT HITS; GAME TWO OF PIVOTAL KHSAA 14th DISTRICT SERIES IS SET FOR TUESDAY EVENING

It came down to the top of the seventh inning, and Bowling Green High School’s 10th-ranked baseball squad was looking to get it done.

Pull the curtain.

Finish off the Spartans.

Check, check, and check please.

South Warren, ranked No. 25 statewide by MaxPreps, was down to its last three outs on a pleasant Monday night at Bowling Green’s Harold J. Stihl Field. The Spartans had stranded more than a few base runners, including several in scoring position, when they stepped to the plate trailing the homestanding Purples by a single run.

BGHS right-hander Logan Johnson was dealing, much like he did in last week’s 7-1 victory over 16th-ranked Greenwood, and he was determined to close the door on a critical victory as the KHSAA’s 14th District race comes to a close two weeks before postseason play.

“I just had to let my boys do the work,” Johnson said.

And that’s exactly what the Purples did, retiring the side on three consecutive ground balls, two of them particularly challenging, as Bowling Green held on for a clutch 1-0 victory over its crosstown rival.

Bowling Green improved to 22-4 and 4-1 in district play, while the Spartans fell to 16-10-1 and 3-2, respectively. The Purples will take the short trip down Nashville Road to tangle with South one last time before what one of the toughest baseball districts in the Commonwealth sorts things out with the 14th District Tournament later this month at South Warren High School.

Johnson, a sturdy 6-foot, 190-pound senior right-hander, stayed ahead in the count and challenged the Spartans’ batters, with an airtight defense, particularly in the infield. South Warren loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth inning, but Johnson retired the next three batters he faced, keeping a scoreless game intact until the Purples could return to their dugout.

South Warren left-hander Tanner King was equally efficient, in the early innings, but a pair of walks in the bottom of the fourth changed the landscape for the Purples. And BGHS sophomore shortstop Colt Isenberg was equal to the task, with two men on and two outs, to bring home the only run of the game.

Nathan Isenberg, Colt’s Dad and the Purples’ veteran coach, instructed his son to prepare for the curveball, as Colt Isenberg swings from the left side of the plate, a decided advantage for King and the Spartans.

No matter.

Colt Isenberg fell behind, 0-2, in the count, before slicing an opposite-field single to score the Purples’ Kipton Walden from second base. Walden is an eighth grader who was serving as a courtesy runner for BGHS right-hander Logan Johnson.

Nathan Isenberg sent Walden home, without a play at the plate, and Walden’s run made it 1-0 before an enthused crowd at the Purples’ ballpark. South Warren’s Tanner King kept his team in striking distance, over the next two innings, but it all came down to the top of the seventh.

And that’s when Johnson was probably at his best.

“Logan Johnson was outstanding for us tonight,” Nathan Isenberg said when it was over. “He’s had a great year, and he was coming off just three days rest after pitching against Greenwood last week … He only needed 77 pitches to go the distance.

“He’s a horse.”

Nathan Isenberg likes to credit the work of first-year BGHS pitching coach Greg Scheer, a baseball lifer who has made an immediate impact with the Purples. Johnson is one of the Purples’ multi-sport athletes, much like South Warren, and he was a member of two BGHS football squads that won back-to-back KHSAA Class 5A state championships in his sophomore and junior years.

Johnson has a special relationship with BGHS teammate James Yarbrough, a spry, undersized catcher who excels at blocking balls in the dirt — OK, in the Purples’ case, the carpet — while doubling as Bowling Green’s leadoff batter.

And it’s the Purples’ infield — Matt Mosley at third, Colt Isenberg at short, Landon Gilbert at second base and either Johnson or BGHS teammate Grayson Rodgers at first — that’s served as the backbone of this promising Bowling Green squad.

Gilbert, a BGHS senior who plans to play JUCO ball next season at Cleveland State (Tennessee), is among the statewide leaders in two or three offensive categories. He also made a deft play, in shallow right field, to deny South’s Alext Miller of a one-out hit in the top of the seventh.

“I was just trying to back up my pitcher,” Gilbert said. “I saw (Miller) put it in play, and I knew I had the range to get to it … We’re just trying to go out and win every game we can.”

Not to be outdone, Colt Isenberg made it happen for the final out of the game.

South Warren’s Justin Capps slapped a hard grounder, deep into the hole at shortstop, and Isenberg made the play before unleashing a strong throw to Rodgers to end the game and put the Purples on the cusp of the No. 1 seed for the KHSAA 14th District Tournament.

“We’ve had some trouble with these guys the last couple years,” Logan Johnson said. “It’s definitely a big lift for our team.”

Colt Isenberg was a little more succinct, but then again, he’s just a sophomore.

“It’s a big win,” he said.

The classic pitcher’s duel set the tone for Game Two of the series, which has been moved up an hour, to 5 p.m., because of weather concerns across Kentucky. BGHS coach Nathan Isenberg and his South Warren counterpart, Chris Gage, were considering their options once they packed their gear for the night.

Gage seems to be leaning toward senior right-hander Jacob Lobb, who is unbeaten in four decisions while sporting a solid 2.83 ERA. Isenberg, in turn, is expected to counter with senior left-hander Jack Cowan, who is 4-1 on the year with a 3.98 ERA. Both coaches have plenty of options, so a quick hook might be in order in Game Two.

South Warren shortstop Camden Page, a 6-foot-4 junior who is also the starting quarterback for the Spartans’ top-flight football squad, had line-drive singles — both on the first pitch — in the fourth and sixth innings, only to be stranded at third base both times when Logan Johnson retired the side.

Johnson is now 4-1 on the season, with a miniscule 1.17 ERA, and he likes the way the Purples are trending.

“We’re playing with more confidence now,” he said, “but we’ve got to move on to the next one.”

Stay tuned.