Spartans use big inning to slide past BG
Published 10:29 am Tuesday, May 20, 2025
It was arguably the most high-profile district tournament first-round game in the state when Bowling Green and South Warren squared off in Monday’s District 14 opening round at Greenwood High School.
Both teams entered ranked in the top 17 in the state, but only one would earn a spot in next week’s Region 4 Tournament.
The Spartans were able to claim that ticket, outlasting the Purples 5-2 in a game that featured little offense, but plenty of drama. South Warren (27-7) got all the offense it would need in one flurry and starter Mikey Coradini and two relievers were able to make it stand, sending the Spartans back to the district title game and back to next week’s region tournament.
“This year by rankings it is the hardest district in the state,” South Warren coach Chris Gage said. “That was the second time all year we’ve had our full lineup in a game. This team has weathered a lot of injuries and we are still not 100%. The guys are toughing it out, going out there and giving everything they’ve got.”
The two teams split the regular season, with the home team getting the win in both games.
Bowling Green (20-12) struck first with Evan Schallert reaching on an error and eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly to shallow right – taking advantage of a collision between South Warren’s Jaxen Decker and Ty Croghan that didn’t allow the Spartans to get the ball in right away.
South Warren scored all of its runs in the second. Ethan Reynolds got it started with a bloop double that hit the line in right field between three defenders.
“I thought that was going to be a foul ball, but we always tell our guys it spins back towards center field,” Gage said. “That one luckily did. Credit to Ethan for toughing it out and putting it in play.”
Two batters later, the Spartans tied the score on an RBI single from Croghan. South Warren would eventually load the bases with two outs for Camden Page, who delivered a three-run triple that gave the Spartans a 4-1 lead.
“I knew he was going to try to sneak a fastball by me 0-1,” Page said. “When he gets ahead he’s trying to sneak fastballs by, throw good strikes. I sold out on the fastball and was trying to get the barrel home.
“I missed it by probably a centimeter, but I knew it had a chance for sure. I hit a ball harder than that this season against Greenwood and I was out. I was hoping that maybe it had enough carry to get over or hit the wall and do what it did.”
Brandon Perkins followed with an RBI single to score Page and extend the lead to four, but the Spartans were unable to add any more insurance the rest of the way.
Bowling Green threatened by putting two on in the third and two more in the fourth, but Coradini was able to wiggle out of danger both times. The left-hander finished his day after four innings, allowing one hit with five walks and five strikeouts.
“Mikey’s tired,” Gage said. “He gave us 96 pitches there. That’s why we had to get him out. He’s going to college, so I’m not going to hurt his arm.”
Bowling Green loaded the bases off reliever Jacob Lobb with one out in the fifth, but Reynolds came in and shut the door with back-to-back strikeouts.
Reynolds tossed a perfect sixth, but allowed a leadoff walk – which came around to score on a sac fly by Grayson Newman – in the seventh before closing it out and securing the win.
“He’s a tough kid,” Gage said. “He was so pumped up we almost had to bring him down a bit to not be too wild.”
South Warren finished with nine hits – two each from Griffin Rardin and John Mosley.
Bowling Green finished with two hits, but stranded 10 runners – going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
“We preach it all the time, you’ve got 21 outs on offense and 21 outs on defense,” BG coach Nathan Isenberg said. “You never know which one will be the one that costs you or finishes it. One inning of not so great baseball. We had some decent at-bats. Our walks were good at-bats. We worked some of that. The pitches that were in the zone, we just didn’t do a lot with. It’s hard to do a lot with two infield hits.”
Isenberg added he was proud of the way his team battled all season.
“I told the guys we had a very good season,” Isenberg said. “Unfortunately only one team gets to end the season with a win and that’s the state champ and that is just the way it is. I felt it was a region championship caliber game. Injuries got in the way at times, but the kids fought and battled all year long. You couldn’t ask much more.”
South Warren advances to face Greenwood, a 15-0 winner over Warren Central, in the championship game which is rescheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Greenwood after rain washed out Tuesday’s schedule.
“You’d like to manage to try and win the tournament, win the district tournament, but we had to throw everything we had right now in this game,” Gage said. “If that depletes us for the game, that’s the gamble.”
BGHS 100 000 1 – 2 2 0
SWHS 050 000 X – 5 9 2
WP: Coradini LP: Gilbert S: Reynolds
About Micheal Compton
I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.
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