Warren East hasn’t had the best timing hitting back-to-back left-handed pitchers of Greenwood. One big swing from Davion Downey is all they needed to avoid the series sweep and set up a rubber match Wednesday.

Downey sailed a two-run home run 323 feet over the left field wall in the top of the eighth inning Tuesday to give Warren East a 2-0 victory over Greenwood at South Warren High School.

Downey and Gators starter Tyler Cook went toe-to-toe on the mound for seven scoreless innings until the Baylor University signee took his first hit on the day for his ninth home run of the season.

“With me not doing that well at the beginning of the game, I asked coaches what I was doing wrong and what to do to fix it,” Downey said. “They said I need to stay back longer. I adjusted and hit the home run.

“We were struggling trying to change our mindset and approaching these soft lefty’s differently. It takes a while and we started picking it up.”

Before Downey’s game-winning homer, Cook allowed just four hits through the first seven innings. On Monday, the Raiders (17-6 overall, 6-4 District 14) got just three hits in the Gators’ 3-1 win with lefty Nate Cunningham on the mound.

Game 3 of the series has been moved from Thursday to Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Greenwood due to the threat of rain.

“Offensively we’ve really struggled the last couple of days and those lefties are doing a good job keeping us off balance,” WEHS coach Wes Sanford said. “On guys like that, we’ve talked about it and planned for it, but we haven’t had to actually put any action to it. Those guys are doing a good job spotting it up and keeping the ball in places where you have to be disciplined as a hitter. Hopefully we’ll continue to learn.”

Downey tallied seven strikeouts in seven innings and was replaced by Andrew McWhorter to close out the eighth after giving up a leadoff single to Connor Cline and reached 106 pitches.

McWhorter walked Cook to put the tying run on base before forcing Parker Williams to ground out to short to end the game.

Greenwood (14-13, 4-6) played Tuesday without starters Titus Thornhill and Jack Blair, who each suffered injuries Monday. That put a shift in the lineup with Adam Schneller and Connor Cline moving up into the No. 2 and 3 spots where Thornhill and Blair were mainstays.

Like Warren East, the Gators struggled to find hits on a day where high winds blew out in favor of hitters. Instead, Greenwood didn’t get a hit on Downey until the third inning and its second in the fifth inning.

Schneller gave Greenwood its best chance at scoring. His speedy two-out grounder was snagged on a diving catch by Warren East second baseman Ty Colson, who threw Parker Williams out at home to end the fifth inning.

Greenwood left 10 runners on base.

“This is the type of game we’re going to play in late May,” GHS coach Jason Jaggers said. “We’ve got to find a way to get the timely hitting. That’s what it’s going to come down to in the district tournament. When we get those guys in scoring position we’ve got to find a way to get the timely hit. One person got the timely hit tonight and that person isn’t on our team.”

To start the eighth inning, Cook struck out Colson and forced pinch hitter Grant Turner to ground out to short. Matt Mellencamp followed with a pinch hit single before Downey’s two-out shot sailed over the left field wall.

Cook held his ground despite the loss in a complete game. He struck out two batters, issued three walks and scattered seven hits. Ty Stringfield had three of the seven hits for Warren East.

WEHS – 000 000 02 – 2

GHS – 000 000 00 – 0

WP: Downey. LP: Cook