Jackson Haga didn’t have many opportunities to help Bowling Green in meaningful games last season, spending most of that time in the dugout sidelined with an elbow injury.

Haga is healthy now and throwing at 100 percent for the Purples.

The senior had one rough inning, but otherwise was the reliable ace Bowling Green needs him to be in a 4-2 win at South Warren on Monday. The Purples’ first District 14 series victory of the year came with a lineup finally back to full strength and a pitcher who went the distance in front of a scout from the Baltimore Orioles.

Haga (4-1) struck out 12 and allowed just three hits – all consecutively in the fourth inning – and didn’t issue a walk. His two runs came off a game-tying solo home run from Trent Rice and an Adam Burns’ RBI that briefly gave the Spartans a lead.

The Purples (12-6 overall, 1-0 District 14) took the lead right back with three runs in the fifth that prompted South Warren (13-4, 3-1) to scramble with three pitchers the rest of the way.

“I can’t say enough about the way (Haga) pitched,” first-year BGHS coach Nathan Isenberg said. “He had one inning he might have lost focus and they got a couple of hits. He’s one of the top five, top 10 pitchers in the state and I’m just happy to have him as our ace.

“We want to keep him healthy and you can’t ask him of any more than he’s done for us.”

Haga leads the Purples pitching staff with 46 strikeouts with 20 hits and seven earned runs allowed. He entered the District 14 opener with a 1.52 earned run average.

Charlie Key, Geoffrey Ross, Max Payne and first-year varsity contributor Charlie Cummings make up a bullpen with a team ERA of 2.22.

“I feel great, much better than last year,” Haga said. “We’re throwing the ball great right now. We have faith in whoever is going to be out there to do their job and we’ll make the plays behind them and we’ll be fine.”

Haga worked well with a one-run cushion for 3 2/3 innings.

Maddox Burr reached base as the leadoff hitter and Evan Spader, who battled a hamstring injury this season, put a single into right field for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

That slim lead held until the Spartans got to Haga in the fourth for a brief lead. The Liberty University signee hadn’t allowed a hit until Rice took his second pitch over the center-field wall with two outs to tie the game.

Tyler Martin got a hit on Haga to right field and advanced on a balk. He scored off Burns’ skip down the left foul line for the go-ahead run. Bowling Green’s bats quickly responded to Haga’s three straight surrendered hits.

Facing two outs of their own, the Purples finally got to Logan Smith with three runs off three hits and a hit-by-pitch. Joe Howard’s hit scored Maddox Burr for the tying run and Spader scored the winning run on the throw.

Haga added insurance by scoring Howard with a hit and another hit-by-pitch forced South Warren coach Chris Gage to make a pitching change.

Smith finished having allowed seven hits without a strikeout in 4 2/3 innings.

“There at the end we hit the ball on the nose a few times and their batters did a good job of hitting the ball where we ain’t and just finding holes,” SWHS coach Chris Gage said.

South Warren’s loss snapped a five-game winning streak while the Purples extended their own streak to five wins. Game 2 is at BGHS Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“I think we’re doing really good hitting the ball,” Haga said. “We struggled for a bit and we got out of that slump and now we’re the team we can be. We can be better than we were tonight.”

BGHS 100 030 0 – 4 7 1

SWHS 000 200 0 – 2 3 1

WP: Haga. LP: Smith