ZACH DAVIS LIMITS BGHS TO FOUR HITS: VERDICT LIFTS SOUTH WARREN INTO TOURNEY’s No. 1 SEED
They kept trotting back to the pitchers’ mound, inning after inning.
First, Greenwood High School’s Zach Davis. Then, the Bowling Green Purples’ Drew Isenberg.
They kept putting up zeroes. One after another. On a cold, windy night — at least for the first week of May — the hitters were anything but patient, at the plate.
They chased pitches. Put a lot of balls in play, on the first or second pitch. And Davis and Isenberg kept answering the bell.
Until the bottom of the sixth inning.
That’s when everything changed.
That’s when the Gators took control in a critical KHSAA 14th District tilt. The final league game before the district tournament in less than two weeks.
That’s when Greenwood loaded the bases, with no outs, before proceeding to put a four-spot on the board.
Say good night, Purples.
Zach Davis hurled an impressive four-hitter on Tuesday night, sending the Gators to a critical 4-0 victory over Bowling Green. The victory allowed Greenwood to split their final 14th District series, while winning its first game in 12 days.
It probably seemed longer in the Gators’ dugout.
WITH THE DAILY NEWS’ MICHEAL COMPTON.
The split allowed South Warren, which swept Bowling Green in a two-game series last month, to gain the No. 1 seed for the 14th District Tournament at Warren Central High School. That’s when the Spartans (17-7, 5-1 in district play) will tangle with winless Warren Central (0-20, 0-6).
Bowling Green, which lost for the first time since April 22, will again square off with Greenwood (18-5, 3-3). The Purples (13-11, 4-2) tempted fate once too often Tuesday night, as the Gators created the breaks that put them on the path to victory.
“We’d get guys on base, and we couldn’t find a way to come through,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said.
CATCHER EASTON TALLEY (LEFT) AND REED McCLARD.
Until Zach Davis led off the sixth with a single past the third baseman, followed by Reed McClard’s masterful bunt single to the right side of the mound. Blake Marks’ line-drive single to right field loaded the bases, with no outs, and the Purples’ Drew Isenberg needed all the help he could get.
It wasn’t coming.
“We felt like the team that scored first was going to win the game,” McClard said.
The Gators left nothing to chance.
Greenwood’s Axel Dysholm lifted a fly ball that BGHS left fielder Dillon Maners lost in the lights. It fell for an RBI single, and Isenberg quickly fell behind in the count, 2-0, to the Gators’ Cyler Talley.
Nate Isenberg, the Purples’ coach, went to his bullpen at that point, summoning J.P. Henderson, at which point Bowling Green had to make wholesale changes defensively. Talley’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0, and a balk and Jackson Lee’s line-drive RBI single sealed the deal for the Gators.
WITH FOUR RUNS IN THE SIXTH.
“Things kinda haven’t gone our way,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers admitted. “It wasn’t from a lack of effort or anything. We haven’t gotten the timely hit we needed. You saw it, in the first five innings …
“We were finally able to come through, with four (runs). That was big.”
McClard’s bunt single seemed to be the turning point. But the Gators’ junior center fielder sheepishly admitted he had intended to bunt for a sacrifice, putting the winning run at second base with less than two outs. Instead, he placed the bunt perfectly to the right side of the mound, and he hustled down the first-base line for the base hit.
“You could see the momentum change,” McClard said.
Jaggers said McClard has always excelled in that area — “small ball,” some like to call it. But until then, Drew Isenberg was matching the Gators’ Zach Davis, zero for zero. The Gators scored four in the bottom of the sixth and they were on their way to victory.
AND THE PURPLES’ INFIELD
MAP OUT DEFENSVE STRATEGY IN THE SIXTH …
FOLLOWED SUIT WITH HIS SQUAD.
“Drew threw well. He gave us a chance to win,” BGHS coach Nate Isenberg said. “We didn’t hit, or at least make adjustments, at the plate … We’re learning how to play, and win. In the process, there’s usually bumps in the road.
“The top three teams in our district (South Warren, Bowling Green and Greenwood), we are all very even, and so we are going to have to execute, and play well (down the road).”
Drew Isenberg battled out of trouble in the third and fifth inning, when the Gators had a base runner in scoring position with less than two outs. The Purples turned a nifty 5-4-3 double play after Blake Marks lined a leadoff single to right field in the fourth.
Greenwood’s Zach Davis was equal to the task, himself, in getting through the early innings. The Purples collected three hits in the top of the first inning but failed to score, in large part because Gators catcher Easton Talley threw out Drew Isenberg, at second base, trying to steal after a leadoff single.
IS UNBEATEN IN THREE DECISIONS.
From there, it was Zach Davis’ world, and the Purples were pretty much just livin’ in it.
“Zach’s always a gamer,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said. “I’m partial, but I think (Davis) is the best player in the 4th Region.”
Davis remained unbeaten in three decisions, while dropping his ERA to an impressive 1.99. He’s struck out 28 batters, in 24 2/3 innings, while allowing just 19 hits and 10 walks.
Oh yeah, Davis also has recorded three of the Gators’ five saves, as a team. At the plate, Davis is batting an impressive .474 with 14 extra-base hits (10 doubles, two triples, two home runs) with 15 RBI and 13 stolen bases. He leads the Gators in virtually very offensive and pitching category … and get this:
He’s just a sophomore, and he’s a standout at shortstop, too.
“I just tried to throw strikes,” Davis said. “I knew the guys were behind me, and they’d make the play.”
Reached via text message on Wednesday morning, Zach Davis said the victory was a little more special because it came on “Mason Goodnight Night,” when the Gators and Purples annually honor the memory of the late Mason Goodnight.
Goodnight was just 10 years old, and a fourth grader at Cumberland Trace Elementary School, when he died from viral meningitis on April 6, 2017. BGHS senior Dom Davis and the Gators’ Canon Jaggers each carried two balloons — in their school colors, of course — and let them fly into the sky during a ceremony before the National Anthem.
Perhaps it was inevitable that the Gators and Purples would square off one last time in the KHSAA’s 14th District Tournament. The winner will move on to the 4th Region Tournament, at WKU’s Nick Denes Field, while the losing team will have to pack their gear for the summer months.
“I’m definitely a little sore this morning,” Davis said, “but I feel great, about the win. I’ve played ball with almost every kid on Bowling Green’s roster, and I respect them all.
“There’s no need to have anything but sportsmanship.”
RECORDING THE FINAL OUT,
JASON JAGGERS AND THE GATORS MEET AS A TEAM.
WAS HONORED BEFORE THE GAME.
I’LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU.