MIDLAND Cristian Baeza pitched a complete game and the Odessa High baseball team rallied from a three-run deficit Thursday to defeat Midland Lee 5-4 in District 2-6A action at Ernie Johnson Field.
Odessa High (17-8-1, 7-6) moved into a three-way ties for second with Lee (18-10, 7-6) and Wolfforth Frenship with two games remaining. The Bronchos went 4-2 head-to-head against the Rebels and Tigers, while Lee was 3-3 and Frenship was 2-4.
Lee jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning on Niko Rubio’s bases-loaded double. An error and a walk reloaded the bases before Baeza got out of the inning.
The Bronchos answered with three runs in the third, getting RBI singles from Gibrian Pena and Bobby Salinas. Pena then scored on a double steal to tie it.
Odessa High went up 4-3 on Pilar Ramirez’s RBI single in the fifth and made it 5-3 when Isaiah Rodriguez scored on an error in the sixth.
The Rebels got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on Logan Acosta’s RBI single, Baeza retired the final five batters to close it out.
Baeza allowed four runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked one, getting the final out on his 110th pitch.
Pena finished 2 for 4 as the Bronchos totaled five hits.
