South Warren knew a change in mindset had to happen if it had any shot of beating a red-hot Bowling Green team.

The Spartans held their ground from the start and were never phased in a 2-1 victory over the Purples to avoid the series sweep Wednesday at South Warren High School.

South Warren (13-13 overall, 7-3 District 14) held a 1-0 lead until Bowling Green (17-9, 9-3) tied it up in the top of the sixth inning.

Cannon McDaniel drove in the winning run on a two-out single in the bottom of the frame to give the Spartans a narrow victory.

“We just tried our best to stay relaxed and make plays,” said center fielder Jaxson Smith, who scored the winning-run on McDaniel’s hit.

South Warren’s victory secured its No. 2 seed in the upcoming District 14 tournament behind top-seed Bowling Green.

Starting off strong was the key for South Warren, which fell in a deep hole in the first inning in each of the last two games. Bowling Green scored three runs in the first inning of its 7-0 win Monday and again in its 9-4 victory Tuesday.

This time the Spartans started on the right foot with Hunter Evans hitting a two-out double to score Kirtley Lawrence in the bottom of the first inning. South Warren held that one-run advantage until the sixth inning.

“We just tried our best to come out clean in the first inning because we got beat that first inning both times,” Smith said. “It’s very easy to lose a game in the first inning if you just slip up and relax and lose control. We came out with a stronger mentality not trying to win the game in the last innings.”

Matthew Mitchell carried the Spartans through the first five innings and did his part in keeping the Purples off the board. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed in the third inning and once he committed an error on a pick-off attempt that allowed Jay Buser to round all the way to third, he easily got the next two outs to escape the inning.

Mitchell scattered four hits and struck out two. He put Bowling Green’s only run on base when Nick Meyer lined a double into left field.

The Purples finally broke through when South Warren replaced Mitchell with Clay Nohel on the mound. Tyler Stahl, playing as a designated hitter Wednesday, took Nohel for a single into center field on a 2-1 count to score Meyer as the tying run.

Bowling Green once again came close to blowing the doors open, but left the bases loaded again out of the sixth inning.

“Bad approaches,” BGHS coach Matt Myers said. “Nothing they threw was going to beat us. We threw ourselves out. On those guys you have to let the ball travel and have good approaches and we didn’t. (Mitchell) did a good job of giving his team a chance. … You look at the three games and we out hit them and outscored them for three games. Today was about inches.”

Purples shortstop Charlie Key was inches away from snagging McDaniel’s double in the bottom of the sixth when the line drive grazed his glove and into left field while Smith rounded third for the winning run.

After working out of the jam in the sixth inning, Nohel took an edge into the seventh for the Purples final chance. He forced pinch hitter Evan Spader to ground out to second before recording two strikeouts to bring an end to Bowling Green’s six-game winning streak.

“We played good defense, we threw strikes and we hit the ball pretty good, too,” Nohel said. “It was nice to take one from them at the end.”

Jay Buser was the only player from either team with two hits. Purples sophomore Jackson Haga went six innings and allowed five hits, struck out five and issued one walk.

BG 000 001 0 – 1

SW 100 001 X – 2

WP: Nohel. LP: Hagaa{&end}