BOWLING GREEN EARNS NO. 1 SEED FOR DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Warren East High School’s Austin Comer was rolling.
The Raiders’ senior right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning. He retired the Bowling Green side, three up and three down, in the first and fourth innings. Junior shortstop Chase Carver made a sensational play to open the third, going deep into the hole to retire the Purples’ Ben Davenport after the Raiders had opened a 3-0 lead.
The crowd was hanging on every pitch. Bowling Green was running out of chances.
Then, boom. Bang. Rat-a-tat-tat.
Actually, it was walks that undid the Raiders. Bowling Green sent 16 men to the plate in the top of the sixth, when Warren East made five pitching changes alone, and the Purples went on to thrash the Raiders 10-4 Monday evening in KHSAA 14th District baseball.
“Austin had thrown great,” Warren East coach Wes Sanford said afterward. “The sixth inning got us. We just needed to throw some strikes.
“You give free chances to that team, a team of Bowling Green’s caliber, and that’s what happens.”
Bowling Green, the top-ranked team in the KHSAA’s 4th Region, earned its 21st victory against seven defeats. The Purples remained unbeaten in seven 14th District games, clinching the top seed for the district tournament to unfold next week at South Warren High School. Warren East fell to 19-10 overall and 5-2 in district play, heading into Game Two of the series on Tuesday evening at BGHS.
First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
BGHS coach Nate Isenberg said his team might have been a little rusty, having lost two games to rain after its sweep of South Warren in district play last week. But once the Purples flipped the switch, it became a nightmare for the Raiders and their beleaguered bullpen.
The Warren East pitchers issued three walks, and the Purples used back-to-back hit batsmen to ignite the rally. It was the inning that wouldn’t end for Sanford’s talented team.
“We didn’t panic … I just wish we’d started making adjustments, offensively, a little sooner,” Isenberg said. “Not the third time through the lineup.”
It was nonetheless an amazing transformation.
Comer gave way to Warren East reliever Gage Elkins, in a bases-loaded situation, and the Raiders would repeat that ritual four more times before the inning was over. Elkins took the loss, dropping to 1-2 on the season. BGHS left-hander Dillon Maners, who took over for teammate Isaiah Head in the bottom of the third, was the winning pitcher while improving to 5-1 on the season.
Maners took a simple approach in his first appearance as a reliever this season. He allowed one unearned run, giving up four hits and three walks, over his five innings on the mound.
“Throw strikes, get ahead in the count,” Maners said when it was over. “Let the defense do the work.”
BGHS junior catcher Dom Davis, who hasn’t played in about six weeks because of an elbow injury, delivered the key hit in the sixth inning as a pinch hitter.
Davis slapped Caiden Murrell’s 2-1 pitch up the middle for a two-run single, putting the Purples in front 5-4 with no outs in the sixth inning. Freshman DH Drew Isenberg drew a walk on four pitches before BGHS shortstop Patrick Forbes delivered a two-run single — a bad-hop hit that bounced over East second baseman Colton Edwards’ head — and the Purples never looked back.
“I didn’t know I was going to play, not until Coach (Isenberg) told me to get a bat,” Davis said with a gleam in his eye. “I was getting a little nervous, but after the first pitch, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve been here before,’ and then it was ‘grip it and rip it.'”
Maners and Forbes were thrilled for their teammate, and eight or nine MLB scouts were in attendance, ostensibly to monitor the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Forbes, a signee with the University of Louisville.
“(Warren East) beat us for six innings, but we got that one (in the sixth),” Forbes said. “Getting some base runners always helps.”
It was a frustrating night for the Raiders, who did almost everything right over the course of the first five innings.
Warren East struck for a first-inning run off BGHS starter Isaiah Head, as Tray Price doubled to left-center field before scoring on Braylen Lee’s sacrifice fly to shallow center field. In the second, Maddux Torrance’s two-run single — a bad-hop hit that sailed over BGHS first baseman’s Nathaniel Roof’s head — put the Raiders in front 3-0.
Lee doubled in the fourth and scored on one of three Bowling Green errors, which also seemed to stick in Nathan Isenberg’s craw while the Purples were packing their gear after the game.
“We were probably a little rusty,” Isenberg said. “We had two rainouts after the South Warren series last week … We’ve been stuck inside for a while.”
IN 14TH DISTRICT PLAY.
Isenberg said senior right-hander Dawson Hall will get the call as his starting pitcher in Tuesday evening’s game against the Raiders. Warren East coach Wes Sanford couldn’t think that far ahead, sensing the Raiders let an opportunity slip through their hands on Monday night.
“I don’t have a clue,” Sanford said with a weary smile.
In the early going, Sanford liked the Raiders’ ability to put the ball in play with two strikes at the plate. The Purples’ 10-run sixth inning was the great equalizer, and then some.
“After the 10-run inning, we probably lost our focus a little bit,” Sanford said. “Just have to get ready for the next one.”
Warren East will open 14th District Tournament play next week against Greenwood (18-9, 4-4). Sophomore right-hander Blake Marks hurled a two-hitter on Monday night, sending the Gators to a 2-1 victory over Franklin-Simpson.
