It took two days, two fields and 23 innings but the Midland High Bulldogs finally prevailed in a 4-3 win over the Odessa High Bronchos in a game that started in Odessa on Friday and finished on Saturday in Midland.
Midland High and Odessa High were scheduled to play a 3-game district series this weekend with games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Thursday, Odessa won the first game of the series 3-0 at Zachery Field in Midland.
On Friday, Game 2 of the series started at 4:30 PM at Pressly Field in Odessa. At the end of 7 innings, the two teams were tied at 2-2. Neither team could get a runner past 2B and the game remained tied until the 14th inning when Midland High picked up a run in the top of the inning. The Bulldogs loaded the bases on walks and Lincoln Reinke hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Ayden Castillo. But play was suspended after that because of darkness with no lights at Pressly Field. It was decided they would resume the game at Zachery Field on Midland on Saturday since Game 3 was already scheduled for that location.
Rains on Saturday morning prevented an early start but Friday’s Game 2 finally resumed on Saturday afternoon around 3:30 with Midland High leading 3-2 and Odessa High getting their at-bat in the bottom of 14. With one out, Zorian Del Real tripled to right field. Bo Rodriquez then flied out to center field on the next at bat but it was deep enough to score Del Real and the game was tied again, 3-3.
Odessa High got another triple in the 15th inning with two outs but a ground out ended that threat. The game continued to move on inning by inning with no real threat to score. In the bottom of the 22nd inning Odessa High loaded the bases on a single, an error and a walk and just one out. But Midland High pitcher Jake Nava got a big strikeout and a ground out to first to end the threat.
In the top of the 23rd inning, Midland High’s Jacoby Dutchover singled, stole 2nd and made it to 3rd on a ball four passed ball. With runners on first and third and one out, Wyatt Krueger laid down a squeeze bunt scoring Dutchover with the go-ahead run.
With Odessa down one run and batting in the bottom of the 23rd, Midland High’s Nava was able to get a pop out and a ground out for two outs. Zayne Minjarez then singled to give Odessa hope. But Nava got a ground ball to shortstop Castillo who threw over to second base for the final out, giving Midland High the 4-3 win.
The 23-inning affair broke a record for the longest game in Texas High School Baseball history. The previous record was 22 innings set by McAllen and McAllen Memorial according to Max Preps. 23 innings also tied for the 5th longest high school game nationally.
There were 31 hits, 16 walks, 27 strikeouts and 602 pitches in the contest. It lasted 6 1/2 hours. Midland High and Odessa High used only 4 pitchers each.
With 30 innings of baseball already in the books, the series still had one game to go. Game 3 resumed and oddly enough, the game was tied 3-3 at the end of regulation play. In the bottom of the 8th, Jacoby Dutchover drew a bases loaded walk to give Midland High their second win of the day.
