Right place.
Right spot.
Right hitter.
Perfect ending for the Permian baseball team.
Permian’s Caleb Boswell hit a solo home run to right-center field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Panthers to a 3-2 victory against Odessa High in District 2-6A play Saturday at McCanlies Field.
Permian improved to 10-9-2 overall, 2-1 in district after earning a series win against the Bronchos.
Odessa High (12-6-2, 1-2) won the first game of the series Thursday at Pressly Field, with Permian coming back to win Friday at Momentum Bank Ballpark in Midland.
The teams combined for 30 runs the first two games before putting together a classic in the matinee finale.
Boswell also homered in Friday’s victory, but will remember Saturday’s blast a little bit more.
“For sure this is more memorable,” said Boswell, who started and pitched into the sixth inning. “I was thinking about it when I was going up to the plate and just got a pitch outside and hit it the opposite way.
“My teammates did a great job behind me today and gave us the chance to win. It feels great.”
Boswell was 2 for 3 with the home run and one RBI to lead the Panthers.
He allowed four hits and two runs, with six strikeouts and four walks.
Juan Anaya, making his first appearance of the season, came on in relief in the sixth inning to earn the save.
Odessa High right-hander Jayven Gonzales started and completed six innings, finishing with 105 pitches.
Bronchos head coach Jerod Couch sent Marcos Castro to the mound in the seventh and he retired the first two Panthers before Boswell was able to connect.
“He (Boswell) is a good player, that’s for dang sure,” Couch said. “Hitting the ball the other way, just a really good hitter and he got some power behind it.
“Awesome job by Jayven, he faced some adversity throughout the game, especially right there at the end and I’m proud him.”
Permian got on the scoreboard quickly when Boswell hit a ground-rule double over the right-field fence in the bottom of the first.
Matthew Ortiz went in as a courtesy runner for the Panthers’ pitcher and moved to third on a wild pitch.
Moments later he was scampering home after Cal Warren lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
The Bronchos tied the game in the fourth inning and likely would have score more if not for a spectacular defensive play by Permian second baseman Bryson Bear.
Zorian Del Real led off the inning for the Bronchos with a walk and moved to second when Sebastian Cabral was also walked.
Cabral was forced at second base on a fielder’s choice by Braunson Love, giving the Bronchos runners on first and third with one out.
Angel Villa then laced a line drive toward right field that Bear dove to his left and caught for the second out, with neither runner being able to advance.
Zayne Minjarez followed with a single to centerfield to drive in Del Real with the tying run, but Boswell was able to get out of the inning without any further damage.
Odessa High used back-to-back walks in the fifth inning to take the lead, with JoeLuis Charles and Bryan Hernandez earning the one-out passes.
Del Real drove in Charles with a single up the middle and the Bronchos were looking for more.
Again, Boswell was up to the task, getting a pair of fly balls to centerfield to end the inning.
Turn about was fair play for the Panthers in the bottom of the inning as Gavin Thompson worked Gonzales for a one-out walk, after starting the at-bat 0-2, and then moved to second on a wild pitch.
Gonzales struck out the next Panthers’ hitter for the second out, but leadoff hitter Cayden Sullivan hit a ball back up the middle the caromed off Gonzales and through the hole at shortstop.
Thompson, off at the crack of the bat, was waved around third by Permian head coach Tate Criswell and dove across home plate with the tying run without a throw.
Permian tried to push the go-ahead run across in the bottom of the sixth inning when Bear led off with a double to right field, then kept going to third when the ball was dropped while trying to make a throw.
After Anaya lined out to Villa at first base, Colby Jolly hit a ground ball to Bronchos’ second baseman Manny Munoz and his throw to Hernandez at the plate was in time to retire Bear trying to score
“Manufacturing that run in the fifth inning was big; I think both of their (OHS) runs of their runs were off walks, too,” Criswell said. “It just proves that old saying that walks and errors can come to hurt you.
“I was pleased with Boswell and Anaya, the way they threw; especially Anaya and being able to get him some work. I was going to send him back out there if I needed to (in the eighth).”
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
