Early on in its third game this week against Wolfforth Frenship, the Odessa High baseball team played solid defense as it looked to avoid a series sweep in District 2-6A play.
The Bronchos kept the Tigers off the board until the top of the fourth inning, seeing the game take a turn for the worse after that.
Wolfforth Frenship came away with a 15-4 victory at Pressly Field to get some breathing room at the top of the district standings.
“We played poorly all week and it’s the wrong time of the year to play bad,” Odessa High coach Josh Hulin said. “Play bad against a really good team, those are the type of scores you get.”
Odessa High jumped out to an early lead with a solo home run from David Sanchez to right center field in the bottom of the first and maintained that advantage until the fourth when the Tigers jumped ahead.
Coldon Kiser and Hudson Hutcheson reached home plate for Wolfforth Frenship to take a 2-1 lead, giving their team a momentary boost of confidence after a slow start.
The Bronchos responded in the bottom of the inning when Tristian Ramos scored off a groundout to tie the game.
A nine-run burst in the top of the fifth broke the game open for Wolfforth Frenship, helping the Tigers take control.
Four different Tigers’ batters recorded doubles in the fifth, with Brady Boles hitting a triple to right field as the team put up seven hits in the inning.
“The pitcher they started off with was doing pretty good, we just got to stay in the game,” Wolfforth Frenship’s Landon Hutcheson said. “He got tired, started giving up some more hits, they pulled him and we took off.”
Zorian Del Real was on the mound for the Bronchos to start the game and he kept it close, holding the Tigers to two runs before they broke the game open.
Odessa High drove in two more runners in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn’t catch up as Wolfforth Frenship scored four more in the top of the seventh.
The Tigers (19-9 overall, 13-3 district) are first in the district, one game ahead of Permian and two games ahead of Midland Legacy.
Wolfforth Frenship has a chance to secure the district title next week when it faces Permian, starting with a game at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at McCanlies Field.
“We’re hot at the right time right now,” Hutcheson said. “If we just play the game like we play the game, we’ll be good.”
Odessa High (15-14-1, 6-10) is out of playoff contention and will close out its season with two games against San Angelo Central next week.
Hulin said his team peaked earlier than it needed to, finding consistency about two weeks ago with series wins over Midland Legacy and Midland High.
The head coach said he plans on looking inward to find out what needs to be fixed going into the Bronchos’ season finale.
“You just kind of have to look at the person in charge and there’s something that I’m doing as the head coach that’s not right,” Hulin said. “I’ve got to go back to the drawing board as a head coach, reevaluate and see how I can improve my performance so I can improve these guys’ performance.”
Odessa High will play San Angelo Central at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Donsky Field in San Angelo.
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