PURPLES’ STAR HOMERS IN 8-2 VICTORY OVER RAIDERS
It was the unspoken objective, perhaps the ultimate regular-season goal in the clubhouse.
In the dugout.
On the playing field.
Bowling Green High School made it happen, on a sun-splashed Tuesday afternoon, as the Purples’ baseball team completed an eight-game sweep of their KHSAA 14th District opponents.
Bowling Green 8, Warren East 2.
As BGHS shortstop/pitcher Patrick Forbes put it, a few weeks ago:
“The district games, they’re the most important.”
Until postseason play begins next week.
Bowling Green trailed for the majority of Monday night’s game, a 10-4 stunner at Warren East. The Raiders’ bullpen couldn’t hold a 4-0 lead, and the Purples were well on their way to a sweep of a promising, young Warren East squad.
“I think we’ve played a lot of tough opponents,” BGHS catcher Spencer Newman said, “and for the most part, we’ve played our best baseball against those teams.”
Hard to argue with that, but the Purples have more imposing goals on the horizon.
PATRICK FORBES AND DAWSON HALL.
They want to give themselves a shot at a KHSAA state championship.
It would be the first in the school’s history.
The last state champion from the KHSAA’s 4th Region was Franklin-Simpson, back in 1991. Usually, it’s a team from metro Louisville or Lexington claiming the state championships.
So you start at Square One.
Sweeping your opponents in district play is a good way to get started on the ultimate goal. Bowling Green was on top of its game Tuesday afternoon against Warren East.
“We’ve found a way to win some games,” BGHS coach Nate Isenberg said.
Patrick Forbes, well, he’s become a top-flight candidate for Kentucky’s “Mr. Baseball” award, which would give the Purples their second such distinction in a matter of months. Turner Buttry, the fiery, undersized guard in boys basketball, took the “Mr. Basketball” trophy home from Lexington in March.
Buttry is on his way to play at Eastern Kentucky University, coinciding with the school’s move to the Atlantic Sun Conference. Forbes has signed with the University of Louisville, a consistent ACC squad that knows the way to Omaha. And several MLB scouts were on hand Tuesday to watch Forbes shine at the plate, and then on the pitcher’s mound.
Yet Forbes seems unflappable, more interested in the here and now than what may or may not await down the road.
An unbeaten district campaign.
“We’ve had it in the back of our minds,” Forbes said.
Nate Isenberg, meanwhile, seems focused on the big picture. Twenty mintues after the Purples’ impressive victory over East, Isenberg was a solitary figure in the dugout, putting a lineup together for the junior varsity game.
“I’ve thought a little about last year,” Isenberg said, “how we went into the postseason riding just two pitchers (Eli Burwash and Carson Myers) … “
The Purples appear to be better armed this season.
Forbes closed the door on the Raiders on Tuesday afternoon, taking over after steady BGHS starter Dawson Hall went five innings on the mound.
That’s when a half dozen radar guns went up behind home plate.
LIGHTING UP THE RADAR GUNS ON TUESDAY …
One scout said he had Forbes’ fastball between “91 and 95 mph.”
That’s bringing it.
Isenberg will be looking at Dillon Maners, Dawson Hall, Isaiah Head and Patrick Forbes as a possible rotation as the Purples get ready for the playoffs.
They’ll open the tournament in a sudden-death KHSAA 14th District Tournament semifinal next week against South Warren.
South Warren will be hosting the tournament, and the Spartans will have nothing to lose.
The Purples have to handle the pressure.
THE THIRD WITH A SINGLE TO LEFT FIELD.
“Patrick makes us so much better, defensively, when we have him at shortstop,” Isenberg said. “We’ll take a closer look at it. One game at a time, of course.”
Forbes also unloaded his 12th home run of the season, a towering two-run shot to left-center field to account for the final margin in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Warren East coach Wes Sanford went with his starting pitcher, Tanner Goad, for five-plus innings before bringing Micah Ford out of the bullpen. Forbes turned on Ford’s first pitch for a laser-like home run over the left-center field fence.
Drew Isenberg, the Purples’ freshman DH, had delivered an RBI single of his own and waited for Forbes to cross home plate.
“I was sitting on the fastball,” Forbes said in a measured tone, “and that’s what (Ford) threw me.”
The Purples will close regular-season play with non-district home games against Allen County-Scottsville and Henderson County. Warren East (19-11, 5-3 in 14th District play) will finish its slate on the road, with three games scheduled against Glasgow, Paducah Tighlman and Union County.
The Raiders, who finished second in the 14th District race, will open tournament play against Greenwood (19-9, 4-4). Goad, a junior left-hander, turned in a gutty performance while struggling against the Purples’ lineup. Goad (2-1) surrendered nine hits and six earned runs on 90 pitches.
Forbes and Nate Isenberg met with a Arizona Diamondbacks scout after the game, and the 6-foot-4 BGHS senior has a personable side that should serve him well in professional baseball. And then there’s this.
Forbes’ numbers are just off the charts.
He’s moved to the leadoff role, and seems to be embracing it. He’s batting .602 — and yes, that first number you see is a ‘6’ there — with an astonishing 50 hits in 83 at bats. He’s selective enough that he’s drawn 30 walks, including intentional passes, while striking out just five times. (One of them on Monday night against Warren East’s Austin Comer.)
But that’s just the beginning.
On the mound, Patrick Forbes has worked 25 1/3 innings, compiling a 2-1 record with an impressive 2.76 ERA. He’s struck out 45 batters, or almost two strikeouts per inning, and he continued that trend on Tuesday, finishing with three strikeouts.
It was BGHS teammate Dawson Hall, however, who carried the Purples through the first five innings. Hall, who will pitch across town at WKU next season, allowed just three hits, and two earned runs, over his five innings, while recording seven strikeouts. Hall has worked 35 1/3 innings, second among Purples pitchers only to Dillon Maners, while allowing just 30 hits.
Hall has compiled a 6-2 record with a sturdy 3.76 ERA. He’s recorded 36 strikeouts, against 26 walks. The Purples’ Tate Hanks is 5-1 with a 3.50 ERA in 24 innings. Senior right-hander Isaiah Head has picked up some innings of late, and started Monday’s game against Warren East.
Hall and Newman were equally encouraged by what they saw from the 6-foot-3 BGHS right-hander.
“My fastball was pretty good today,” Hall said, “but I struggled a little with the curve.”
“Throwing strikes, pounding the zone,” Newman said.
Purples outfielder Turner Nottmeier had two hits, including a run-scoring single to the right side in the first inning, and the Purples’ cleanup hitter, Nathaniel Roof, also went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Newman had two hits, including a hit-and-run single to set up a four-run rally in the fifth inning.
“Dawson Hall threw the ball really well,” Isenberg said. “He’s got a nice arm. Works quickly. Not a lot of wasted motion. Western’s getting a good one, there.”
Tray Price, Warren East’s gifted three-sport athlete, unloaded a leadoff home run to right-center field in the first inning.
They start playing for keeps, next week, and Bowling Green and Warren East seem poised to make something happen. They could be facing one another again in about a week.
