South Warren's Kirtley Lawrence (33) slides safely at third base against Bowling Green's Charlie Key (1) Tuesday, May 2, 2017, during Bowling Green's 9-4 win at South Warren High School. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Bowling Green clinched the top seed in the District 14 Tournament on Tuesday with a 9-4 win at South Warren.

The Purples (17-8 overall, 9-2 District 14) used a quick start and a huge fourth inning to take control and top the Spartans for a second straight night. The victory gives BGHS the district’s top seed for a second straight season.

“It feels great,” Purples coach Matt Myers said. “No one thought this team would be in this position. You have to give credit to the six seniors. For a lot of people it doesn’t matter … but I think there should be value (being the one seed).

“We play in the toughest district in the state by playing three-game series in a week. No one else does that. I wish there would be more reward for the team that wins the regular season because there is so much on it. I couldn’t be much happier.”

Senior left fielder Nick Meyer, who finished with three hits, two runs scored, and an RBI, said it felt good to earn the top seed again.

“Coach all season has told us that people counted us out from the start” Meyer said. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year, so a lot of us seniors are finally getting to prove ourselves. It’s a good feeling to finally have all that hard work pay off.”

Like Monday’s 7-0 victory, Bowling Green pushed across three runs in the first – capped by an RBI single from Will Garske.

South Warren (12-13, 6-3) got an unearned run in the bottom of the first, but pitcher Logan Bowen’s RBI single in the second helped the Purples push the advantage back to 4-1.

The Spartans plated two runs in the bottom of the inning and threatened to add more with runners at the corner and one out. Jaxson Smith got picked off by Bowen, a play that was originally ruled a balk before the umpires gathered and changed the call to the put-out at second. Kirtley Lawrence followed with a pop out to end the threat and keep the score 4-3.

“We should have been ahead 5-4,” South Warren coach Chris Gage said. “There is an obstruction. There is a balk that is actually called.

“I’ve got to do a better job of not letting that distract us. That’s on me. They call balk and didn’t have an explanation for why they overturned it. And then they tag a guy out – they actually get an out (from) a balk. I have to do a better job from moving on from stuff like that.

“Instead of having a 5-4 lead like we should have … the whole game is totally different.”

The Purples put the game away with a five-run fourth inning, sending 10 batters to the plate. Garske, Jackson Haga, and Tyler Stahl all had RBI singles during the rally.

“Our kids just kept chipping away and they had some really good approaches in that inning,” Myers said. “We had two or three two-strike hits. Those were backbreakers.”

Cannon McDaniel’s RBI single in the fifth gave the Spartans another run, but Bowen worked out of a bases loaded jam and Riley Hogan finished it out with two scoreless innings of relief.

Bowens earned the win, allowing five runs – two earned – and five hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

“He made some of his own mistakes in there,” Myers said. “He didn’t control the environment the way he should have and he would admit that. He competed and he gave us a chance. He really settled down and got us some zeroes there.

“And then Riley just threw a bunch of strikes. That’s what we needed.”

Garske had two hits, part of a 10-hit attack, while Luke Brown had two runs scored.

Lawrence, McDaniel, and Josh Vincent had two hits each for South Warren – who are now locked in to the 2-3 game in the district tournament.

“At the beginning of the season, with one returning starter, we were trying to get to the 2-3 game,” Gage said. “If you can get to the one, you can get to the one. We just play the games and at the end of the year they tell us what seed we are and we go play the game.”

Bowling Green and South Warren will wrap up the three game series at 5 p.m. Wednesday at SWHS.

BGHS 310 500 0 – 9

SWHS 120 010 0 – 4

WP: Bowens LP: Beckner