The South Warren baseball team put the District 14 seedings to rest, beating Greenwood 5-4 on Tuesday at South Warren High School.

South Warren (17-9 overall, 9-2 District 14) took advantage of four Greenwood errors – using a three-run rally in the sixth inning to surge ahead and secure the top seed in the District 14 tournament later this month at South Warren.

“(Bowling Green coach Matt Myers) said it last year, ‘Winning this district in the regular season is really special because you are playing a three-game series,’ ” South Warren coach Chris Gage said. “It’s really a better test.

“We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of success in our postseasons in past years, but I’m very proud of this team. We won every series this year and we don’t have that power pitcher to run out there. The way these kids did it I am extremely happy, no matter what happens in the postseason, because the way the KHSAA sets up it is a crapshoot in the postseason.”

South Warren jumped ahead twice in the first three innings, but Greenwood (16-11, 5-6) was able to answer both times.

The Spartans took a 1-0 lead on a Tyler Martin RBI single in the first, with Greenwood tying the score on an RBI groundout by Cade Thornton in the third.

South Warren got the run back in the bottom of third when Hunter Evans moved from first to third on a wild pitch and came in to score on an errant throw to third by the Gators.

Greenwood tied it again with an unearned run in the fourth, then took a 4-2 lead in the sixth on a two-run homer from Mac Ausbrooks off reliever Clay Nohel.

South Warren quickly answered in the bottom of the inning with no outs to chase Ausbrooks. After a strikeout, the Spartans tied the score on a wild pitch and a throwing error by Dell Henk that allowed two runs to score. Caleb Lloyd followed with an RBI single to left to push the Spartans in front and Nohel worked around a single in the seventh to secure the victory.

“To Clay’s credit he held it right there,” Gage said. “A lot of pitchers crumble, but Clay not only held it right and then helped us out offensively. Clay’s resiliency was pretty big there too.”

South Warren finished with four hits from four different players.

“It’s a huge win,” Martin said. “Getting that one seed in the district tournament is a big bonus.”

Greenwood also finished with four hits, two from Titus Thornhill.

“When we play to our potential defensively we are a tough team,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said. “We didn’t do that tonight. We made a lot of good plays, but we had some plays that bit us in the tail a little bit that contributed to some runs. South Warren is one of those teams that you don’t need to give an extra out to or give an extra base to. You have to make them earn everything they get.”

With the loss, Greenwood will be the four seed and have to play fifth seed Warren Central in the opening round.

“We played ourselves there and we just need to play our way out now,” Jaggers said.

The two teams will wrap up the series at 6 p.m. Thursday at Greenwood.

GHS 001 102 0 – 4

SWHS 101 003 X – 5

WP: Nohel LP: Ausbrooks.

Bowling Green 15, Warren Central 5, five innings

The Purples overcame a three-run deficit early to pull away and cruise to the victory.

With South Warren’s win later in the day, Bowling Green (13-8, 8-3) will be the two seed and face three seed Warren East in the District 14 tournament.

Warren Central (5-14, 0-11) got off to a quick start with Jordan Miller’s two-run single in the first and an unearned run in the second inning to make the score 3-0.

The Purples answered in the bottom of the second with a two-run single by Jackson Stahl. Two batters later, Eli Thurman stepped to the plate after a conversation with Bowling Green coach Matt Myers in the on-deck circle prior to his at-bat and delivered an opposite field two-run homer to left to push BG in front 4-3.

“He told me to widen my stance a little bit and he thought it would make me more comfortable,” Thurman said. “I did and he threw a ball over the plate and I just let it travel and took him deep.”

Bowling Green added an unearned run in the third, but Warren Central tied the game at 5 on a two-run homer by Jordan Lindsey in the fourth.

It was all Bowling Green from there, with the Purples using a nine-run fourth inning to take control. They added another run in the fifth to seal the win.

Max Payne tossed three innings of relief to earn the victory. Thurman had two hits and three runs scored, while Stahl had two hits and four RBIs.

“I wasn’t happy with our focus the first inning,” Myers said. “We threw a first pitch change-up to start the game and hit a guy. Harris (Tomblinson) knows I didn’t call that. We don’t call that and it started from there. I thought we were really sloppy on defense and we threw some at-bats away.

“Credit to Warren Central, they had an opportunity to stay in it and they did, but I like how we responded. The top six or seven in our lineup are really consistent right now.”

Lindsey and Miller had two hits each for the Dragons.

The teams will wrap up the three-game series at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Warren Central.

WCHS 210 20 – 5

BGHS 041 91 – 15

WP: Payne LP: Eversole.{&end}