The Bowling Green boys’ baseball team began its District 14 slate on a high note, sweeping Warren Central in a three-game series.
The Purples (7-3 overall, 3-0 District 14) opened the series with a 10-0 win on Tuesday before closing it with two victories (4-1, 27-2) in a doubleheader Wednesday, respectively.
Bowling Green has now won seven-straight games while the Dragons (0-10, 0-6) have yet to win a contest. Warren Central hosts Russellville on Friday at 5:30 p.m. while the Purples return to action on April 11 at home against Daviess County, with first pitch also slated for 5:30 p.m.
It was all BG on Tuesday, as it needed just six innings to secure its first District win of the 2017 campaign. Senior pitcher Tyler Stahl tossed a no-hitter and collected 11 strikeouts while going the distance. Offensively, Stahl went 3-for-3 at the plate, which included three doubles that knocked in four RBI – including the sacrifice fly that brought in the mercy run in the sixth.
The Purples started rather slow, clinging to a 2-0 lead as Central’s pitching scrapped it out to leave the door open. However, the Dragons could not muster up any offense against the flaming hot arm of Stahl.
Bowling Green caught fire in the bottom of the fifth inning, loading the bases with no outs before Logan Brown took a 1-0 pitch to deep center field to clear the bases, giving it a 5-0 advantage.
The threat continued later in the inning when a pair of doubles by Stahl and Trevor Dennis expanded the Purples’ lead to 9-0. The Purples couldn’t seal it in the fifth, as two straight fly outs and a groundout stranded the two baserunners at second and third and gave the Dragons another chance to keep the game going.
Stahl struck out all three Warren Central batters in the sixth inning and hit his third double of the night to bring in pinch runner Charlie Key for the win.
Following the series-opening win, the Dragons locked down on the Purples’ hot offense, but could not muster any offense of their own, falling by three runs to Bowling Green in Wednesday’s meeting.
Although it held its opponent to four runs or less for only the second time this season, Warren Central continued to struggle offensively, as they were only able to pick up one hit in 23 total at-bats.
Bowling Green pitcher Logan Bowen struck out four of his first nine batters as Central went 9-up 9-down in the first three innings. The senior would go on to pitch a complete game and would allow only one hit, which was the first for the Dragons in the series.
The Purples collected seven hits, including two from leadoff batter Luke Brown.
Bowen and Warren Central freshman Ethan Harrod both pitched complete games for their respective teams.
Just 30 minutes after limping to a three-run victory over the Dragons, Bowling Green obliterated the Dragons with 27 runs on their way to the big victory to conclude the slate.
The Purples took a 6-0 lead after the first inning, scoring on a double by Stahl, a single by Bowen, a walk and single by Brown – who had two hits in the first inning.
Following Warren Central’s run in the bottom of the first inning, the BG blasted the Dragons with 10 more runs in the top of the second by an error, two walks, two blown fielder’s choices and three singles by Jay Buser, Dennis and Riley Hogan to expand its lead to 16-1.
Bowling Green continued to pour on throughout the game scoring four runs in the third inning, two runs in the fourth inning and five runs in the fifth inning.
-Follow Sporting Times staff writer Clay Manlove on Twitter at @ctmanlove58–
