Clay Nohel was the calm in the storm – a wind storm, anyway – Thursday night.

In a game rife with hard-hit shots to the outfield – often misplayed in a stiff breeze blowing straight out to center field – Nohel proved the steadying influence for South Warren in a 13-3 mercy rule-shortened win over visiting District 14 rival Warren East.

South Warren coach Chris Gage summoned Nohel, a senior right-hander, to relieve Spartans starting pitcher AJ Isable in the top of the second inning. Nohel inherited a bad spot, too, with the bases loaded and just one out in a tie game. Nohel wriggled free with a strikeout followed by a popup, and then helped his team rally for four runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.

“Coach Gage always tells us that if you just go in, throw strikes, let our defense work – we have some amazing fielders out there – so my job is just to throw strikes,” Nohel said.

Gage said the Spartans’ philosophy of trying to get three outs from each pitcher – then evaluating from there – didn’t apply to Nohel on Thursday. After getting through that treacherous second inning, Nohel came back out for the third, fourth and fifth to finish out the victory.

“If they’re rolling, then we stay with them,” Gage said. “Clay just seemed to be on today so we stayed with Clay. I put him in a really tough situation with the bases loaded, and to get out of that without any runs scoring was great.”

Nohel had a solid day at the plate, too, going 3-for-3 and just missing the home run to complete a cycle.

South Warren (5-5 overall, 2-1 District 14) broke the game open with nine runs in the second and third innings. In the bottom of the second, Trent Rice got the rally started when his fly ball fell for a two-base error. Drew Gregory followed one out later with an RBI double.

Gregory stole third, then scored on a delayed steal after Nohel – who had walked – drew a throw to second. Hunter Evans and Tyler Martin capped the scoring outburst with RBI singles.

Then in the third, Rice was again the catalyst with his leadoff double as the Spartans sent nine batters to the plate. Nohel and Martin each had RBI triples during the five-run rally.

Raiders coach Wes Sanford didn’t make it through the inning after confronting the home plate umpire for a strike zone he declared the size of a “shoe box.” That earned a warning, and when Sanford persisted by displaying a batting helmet as a size comparison from the dugout he was ejected from the game. Another Warren East assistant coach also earned an ejection in the second for comments from the dugout.

Per KHSAA handbook bylaws, both East coaches are suspended from the Raiders’ next three games.

Warren East (5-5, 1-2) has lost four of five games since opening the season with four straight wins.

The Raiders had just two errors but misplayed numerous fly balls that sparked South Warren’s offense and allowed the Spartans to claim the series victory by winning two of three.

“You can’t do that against a team like South Warren because they swing the bats so well,” Warren East assistant coach Todd Gentry said. “They did it again tonight. They swung it well – give them credit – and we made a lot of errors that compounded that and it just kind of snowballed out of our hands. We’ve just got to learn from these mistakes and move on to the next day.”

Colson Elkins had a solo home run in the second and Nolan Ford tallied a double and swiped home on a delayed steal in the first to lead the Raiders.

Rice joined Nohel and Martin with two hits each, including a game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.

“It was tough conditions,” Gage said. “We didn’t even feel safe with an 11-3 lead. Our coaches, we were talking about it, and we were like, ‘This is not over yet.’ Because Warren East has a lot of firepower and the wind was blowing out, popups are dropping and everything else. So no lead was safe today.”

The Spartans are back in action Saturday at Allen County-Scottsville for a noon game. Warren East is at Franklin-Simpson for an 11 a.m. game Saturday.

WEHS 111 00 – 3 5 2

SWHS 245 02 – 13 12 1

WP: Nohel. LP: Martin.