HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Midland Lee holds off Odessa High, 4-1

Midland Lee took advantage of its few scoring chances Friday, while Odessa High failed to, allowing the Rebels to take a 4-1 victory in District 2-6A baseball action at Pressly Field.

The Rebels scored three runs in the fourth inning and got a solid relief performance from Noah Harrison to break out of a four-team pack that entered the day tied for second place in the district standings.

Meanwhile, Odessa High (16-5 overall, 2-3 district) stranded 11 runners, leaving seven in scoring position, and ran into an out at the plate in dropping their first home district game.

“Hats off to Midland Lee,” Bronchos coach Josh Hulin said. “They took advantage of us in that fourth inning and scored three runs, and that was all they needed. Good job by their pitchers. They threw enough strikes and we were just kind of noncompetitive today.”

Eli Salazar went 2 for 3 with an RBI for Midland Lee (12-8, 3-2), while Logan Acosta’s two-out double in the fourth drove in two runs.

“We’ve been missing a lot of that here lately,” Rebels coach Brian Roper said of Acosta’s hit. “A hit like that with two outs is big.”

Harrison (1-2) came on in the fourth in relief of Rebels starter Dylan Drace with the bases loaded and the Rebels leading 3-1. Harrison got a double play to end the Bronchos’ threat and finished with 3.2 shutout innings, allowing four hits while striking out three.

“That was the big answer,” Roper said. “Dylan gave us everything he had and he got a little gassed, but he left us in a position to win.

“Noah coming in, that was awesome. Great outing for him. He just keeps getting better each time he goes out. He’s still a young kid.”

Drace was charged with a run on two hits, but issued five walks in his outing.

Damian Aspeitia (4-1) took the loss for Odessa High, giving up three runs on three hits over 3.2 innings. He walked three and hit two batters. Bobby Salinas went the rest of the way for the Bronchos, allowing a run on two hits while striking out two.

Bo J. Martinez went 3 for 4 to lead the Bronchos. But Odessa High was unable to muster much else despite getting runners on base in every inning but the second.

“It was just a lack of guys that want to be in the limelight,” Hulin said. “I feel like we’re just kind of passing the torch at the plate, like, ‘aww, the next guy will do it. Aww, the next guy will do it.’ We really just don’t have guys that want to be up there and want to be the guy that gets the big hit. That’s always a recipe for disaster in baseball.”

In the fourth, Midland Lee loaded the bases with one out on a walk, single and hit batter. Colby Standard gave the Rebels the lead with a sacrifice fly, and Acosta followed with a line drive to left-center that glanced off the glove of Odessa High center fielder Jacob Munoz.

The Bronchos answered in the bottom of the inning on Munoz’s sacrifice fly after Hervey Nieto led off with a double. Odessa High loaded the bases on two walks and an error before Harrison came on.

Midland Lee wrapped up the scoring in the fifth when Junior Alvarez beat out an infield hit and stole second before Salazar delivered an RBI single to left.

In the sixth, Odessa High was unable to build on singles by Salinas and Tony Carrasco. In the seventh, the Bronchos brought the tying run to the plate after Martinez led off with a single and Gibrian Pena worked a one-out walk, but Harrison retired the next two batters to end it.

Odessa High pitcher Damian Aspeitia delivers a warmup pitch to catcher Andres Martinez before the start of Friday’s District 2-6A baseball game against Midland Lee at Pressly Field.

By Sam Waller
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