Purples down Gators 7-5 for Region 4 title
Published 10:15 am Thursday, May 28, 2026
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Bowling Green’s Colt Isenberg reacts after the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Jack Cowan reacts during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Logan Johnson pitches during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Greenwood’s Whitt Gloscick (29) bats during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Ian Wells bats during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Greenwood’s Howard Boston bats during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Colt Isenberg makes a throw during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Greenwood’s Whitt Glosick (29) attempts to make a throw to first during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Hudson Nottmeier batsduring the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Hudson Nottmeier bats during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s James Yarbrough bats during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Colt Isenberg (5) reacts after making a play during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Colt Isenberg (5) attempts to tag out Greenwood’s Henry Justice (23) during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Greenwood’s Une Kloshi reaches for first during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
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Bowling Green’s Logan Johnson pitches during the Purples’ 7-5 win over Greenwood during the 4th Region Tournament held at Nick Denes Field on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Daily News) (Caleb Lowndes)
Bowling Green certainly did not get a free pass from Greenwood in Wednesday’s Region 4 Baseball Tournament championship game at Nick Denes Field.
The Purples pushed ahead, the Gators rallied back – twice – before eighth-grade relief pitcher Henry Phillips locked down the save and punched BG’s ticket to Lexington for next week’s KHSAA state baseball tournament at Lexington Legends Field.
After giving up a two-run lead in the top of the fifth inning, Bowling Green (34-5) seemed to put the game away with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the inning. Greenwood (27-11) wasn’t ready to concede, responding with three more runs in the top of the sixth as the Gators showed no inclination to give up.
“No they didn’t – we were a little surprised,” said Bowling Green senior catcher James Yarbrough, who was named the Region 4 tournament’s Most Valuable Player after the game. “They put up a good battle, but we came out on top. We just rallied behind each other, rallied the troops and kept them going – passed the baton.”
Yarbrough got the Purples’ offense going in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff double against Greenwood starting pitcher Jackson Lee. Courtesy runner Kip Walden moved to third on a wild pitch and promptly scored on an RBI single by Hudson Nottmeier.
The Purples doubled that lead in the bottom of the fourth. Colt Isenberg drew a one-out walk, then Jack Cowan ripped a full-count triple to center field to drive in the run and put his team up 2-0.
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Through the first four innings, Bowling Green senior starting pitcher Logan Johnson had been practically untouchable – allowing only an infield single by Henry Justice in the first and facing just one batter over the minimum.
Greenwood senior Whitt Glosick changed the tone leading off the fifth with a double. Griffin Veazey followed with a single, then Boston Howard brought home a run with an RBI groundout. Bryce Mangold got a chance to pinch hit and came through with another RBI single to knot the game at 2-all. Ethan York added the Gators’ fourth hit of the inning with an infield single, but Johnson buckled down and got a strikeout and pop-out to get out of further trouble.
The bottom of the fifth brought the trouble to Greenwood. Phillips led off with a single against Gators reliever Justice, then Yarbrough beat out a bunt with a headfirst slide into first base – Greenwood first baseman Ethan York was ruled to have come off the bag to snare a high throw, a call neither he or the Greenwood dugout agreed with.
“He’s 6-3 and he’s the best first baseman in the region, and when he says he’s on (the bag) he’s on,” Greenwood coach Jason Jaggers said of York. ‘I’ll just leave it at that.”
Nottmeier moved both runners over with a sacrifice bunt, then the Gators intentionally walked Landon Gilbert to load the bases and set up a force out at any base. A wild pitch allowed courtesy runner Lincoln Thorpe to score from third and give the Purples a 3-2 lead.
Matt Mosley hit a sharp ground ball to second that deflected off the glove for an infield hit an RBI and Colt Isenberg hit a flair into left for another RBI single that put BG ahead 5-2. That prompted Greenwood to bring back Lee to pitch. Johnson worked a full-count walk to load the bases for Cowan, who drove in one run on a fielder’s choice. An errant throw to first on the play allowed another run to score and cap the five-run rally.
Greenwood surged back in the top of the sixth. Justice started the rally with a one-out single, then Veazy came through with a two-out single. Howard followed with a booming two-run triple to center to score both runners and end Johnson’s night on the mound.
Groff kept the rally going with a double against Phillips to drive in another run and cut the margin to two. Phillips then induced a fly ball to get out of the inning.
Phillips led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple and Yarbrough drew a walk, but Lee didn’t concede another run as he got two straight infield fly balls and a fly out to center.
Lee gave the Gators some home with a two-out infield single in the top of the seventh, but Phillps closed out the win with a strikeout.
“I expected a battle,” Bowling Green coach Nathan Isenberg said. “You know, we came out on the winning end – played a little bit better than those guys, but I knew they would fight and scrap, and it would be a tough one. We made plays when we needed to, we got hits when we needed to, we ran the bases well when we needed to.”
Justice and Veazy finished with two hits each to lead the Gators, who were playing in their first regional championship since 2008.
“I told the kids before the game, we’re a bunch of blue-collar boys,” Jaggers said. “They bring their lunch pail every day, they go to work and it was no different today. We didn’t play our cleanest game, but we didn’t quit. We fought to the last out and that’s all you want out of your boys. Give great effort, have no quit and that’s exactly what they did. We just didn’t end up on the right end of it.”
Cowan was 2-for-3 with a triple, a double and three RBIs for the Purples. Phillips, Yarbrough and Nottmeier finished with two hits each.
“We put in a lot of work and a lot of preparation to get to this moment,” Yarbrough said. “I feel like it all paid off.”
Johnson worked 5 2/3 innings to earn the win.
“It feels amazing, that’s for sure,” Johnson said. “That was the goal from Day 1, to win region and make it to state.
Phillips pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the save.
“He was ready,” Nathan Isenberg said of Phillips. “He’s a pretty cool customer.”
Bowing Green will face Region 1 champion McCracken County (31-8) next Thursday in a 12:30 p.m. CT first-round state tournament game at Legends Field in Lexington. It will be the Purples’ first state tournament appearance since 2021.
“Those guys go every year – 12 years in a row, something like that,” Nathan Isenberg said of McCracken. “That’s who we lost to in 2021. I know the same players aren’t here. But I like our team. We can do anything. We’ve just got to play one day at a time.”
GHS 000 023 0 – 5
BGHS 100 150 x – 7
WP: Johnson. LP: Justice. SV: Phillips.
About Jeff Nations
Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News
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