Although it hadn’t played a District 14 game all season, Bowling Green showed no signs of rust on Tuesday.
Hosting South Warren in its district opener — and the series opener between the two sides — the Purples (6-5 overall, 1-0 District 14) played at a high level and dominated on both sides of the ball en route to an 11-7 win over the Spartans at Harold J. Stahl Field.
“Anytime you can get a win against a good team, that’s the number one thing,” Bowling Green coach Matt Myers said. “You don’t care how you get ’em. The only blemish we had the whole night is when we gave them momentum at the end. (South Warren) did a good job — they kept competing.”
Bowling Green jumped out to a 4-0 lead after just one inning, inheriting much momentum from the start. The Purples went on to add seven more runs to their side of the scoreboard throughout the remainder of the contest and kept South Warren (5-7, 2-2) from making a comeback.
Eli Thurman led the way for the Purples with a three-hit, five-RBI performance — which included a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Jackson Haga started on the mound for the Purples and tossed six strikeouts and allowed four runs in six innings pitched.
“It feels good getting the hits going and getting the team going,” Thurman said. “I know if I get on, my guys will get behind me. I knew as soon as I got a hit that they were gonna get on and have energy — and it just went from there.”
Hunter Evans led the way for the Spartans with seven RBI, which came on a three-run home run in the top of the fifth and a big grand slam in the top of the seventh.
Bowling Green was hot from the start.
After their defense only allowed a walk to begin the game, the Purples’ offense quickly went to work.
“I told our guys I thought our first inning was as good of a first inning that you can come out with,” Myers said. “In our program, throwing up zeros is very important on defense. We take great pride in it. I thought we had a great approach against their guys.”
Thurman led off with a single, and Ben Ginter followed up with a double to score his predecessor. An error by South Warren helped Will Garske reach and sent Ginter home to make it 2-0 with no outs. Soon after, back-to-back RBI singles from Evan Spader and Bo Morton had Bowling Green leading 4-0 after one inning.
“He’s special — and for a kid that didn’t play baseball last year,” said Myers of Thurman. “He’s got some special tools. He’s confident and he’s a tough kid, tough competitor.”
South Warren looked to tack on some runs came in the third, as Caleb Lloyd singled and Sam Gage recorded a double, but the pair would be stranded and the Purples still had all of the momentum. However, the Spartans regrouped and finally broke through in the fifth.
With a pair of runners on and two outs, the senior Evans came up big. The Western Kentucky University signee sent a deep ball over the left center wall to clear the bases and cut South Warren’s deficit to 6-3.
“We didn’t come ready to play. That’s all it was,” South Warren coach Chris Gage said. “Guys not being ready to play and making mental errors was what that was. That puts you in a big hole. It’s early in the season. I’m not displeased with the overall effort. All I told them is that they just have to clean it up.”
The blast from Evans helped the Spartans build a bit of a rhythm, but Bowling Green continued to score runs.
Following the three-run shot, the Purples put their offense back to work — and in a big way — tacking on five runs in the bottom half of the frame to build an 11-3 advantage. Evans came up big again for South Warren in the final inning, recording a grand slam to make it 11-7, but Bowling Green was able to get the final outs after that and secure a marquee win.
Game 2 of the three-game set is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Harold J. Stahl Field.
“It feels good to come out here and get the first win,” said Thurman. “We’ve got a little bit of confidence now, and we’re just going to build off that for the rest of the season.”
–Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TMansfieldST.–
