Davis drills walk-off double to lift Gators to win

Published 11:09 pm Friday, March 21, 2025

By Jeff Nations

Zach Davis got the message Friday night.

Greenwood’s senior shortstop had just watched a generous strike one call sail past during his at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning — a clear sign that he’d better be swinging at anything close to the plate.

Davis acted on that observation, roping the very next pitch into left-center field for a walk-off 4-3 win against Apollo in the opening game of the Greenwood High Hot Rods Classic at Bowling Green Ballpark.

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“Towards the end of the game, it wasn’t a secret that the ump was starting to spread his strike zone,” said Davis, a Louisville baseball signee. “He called that first strike on me — it was iffy, but I probably would’ve called it a strike, too. I was just trying to keep my mind clear and stay within myself and know what I can do. He threw that inside fastball — I’m not going to take an inside fastball.”

Greenwood (3-0) trailed early after Apollo (1-1) plated a run in the top of the first inning on a Will Wilkins RBI single against Gators starting pitcher Andrew Jolly.

In a matchup featuring two starting pitchers who have both signed with Brescia in Jolly and Eagles right-hander Grayson Smith, Greenwood answered that early run with two of its own in the bottom of the first. Jolly brought in the first with an RBI single to right field, then Rylan Graves put the Gators up 2-1 with a sacrifice fly RBI.

Apollo rallied in the top of the fifth. Ross Milburn drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on Sam Holder’s RBI single to tie the game at 2. Holder took second on the soft throw back to the infield, Wilkins followed by drawing a walk and then the Eagles pulled off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position with still just one out.

Gators reliever Jackson Lee got one with a groundout to Davis at short, as the senior fielded the ball and looked back the runner at third before firing the ball to first for the second out. But a wild pitch allowed in the go-ahead run. It could have been worse for Greenwood, but third baseman Whitt Glosick speared a sharp grounder down the third-base line and came up throwing in time to get Gunnar Hendricks at first for the final out of the inning.

“Whitt’s practiced some at third, but he’s mainly been a middle infielder for us,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said. “We made the change where we brought in Whitt and I moved him from second to third when we brought in Henry (Justice) to pitch and put (Lee) back at second. That was a big play, and then another big play by Rylan Graves to scoop the ball at first base.”

Lee started a two-out rally for the Gators in the bottom of the fifth by drawing a walk, then stealing second. Davis followed with an RBI single to left to tie the score at 3.

Justice shut down the Eagles over the next two innings to earn the win when Davis came through with his walk-off hit. Justice finished by pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

At the plate, Davis led Greenwood with his 2-for-3 night. The Gators totaled just three hits in the game.

“We’re definitely not playing great baseball right now, but we’re finding ways to win,” Jaggers said. “But there’s definitely a lot we need to work on and clean up.”

Greenwood stayed hot on Saturday with a 2-1 win against Highlands in the final game of the Classic. The Gators host Franklin-Simpson on Tuesday.

AHS 100 020 0 — 3 4 1

GHS 200 010 1 — 4 3 0

WP: Justice. LP: Lanham.

Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News

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