The Odessa College baseball team saw its best season in the last eight years come to an end with a 10-8 loss to New Mexico Junior College Friday in the Region V Southwest District Tournament at Wrangler Ballpark.
Playing in the elimination bracket, the Wranglers were dealt their second loss in two days, eliminating them from the tournament.
Odessa College ends the season at 40-17.
New Mexico Junior College (40-19) advanced to the semifinals.
“It was two good teams,” New Mexico Junior College head coach Michael Robbins said. “There are a bunch of good players. Sometimes that’s just how baseball goes. We’ve won and lost our share in those kinds of games.”
The Wranglers gave up three runs in the top of the second inning and three in the seventh.
Odessa College’s season included the Wranglers’ first Western Junior College Athletic Conference title since 2017 under first-year head coach David Wood. However, a trip to the NJCAA World Series proved out of reach as the Wranglers were also dealt a 13-5 loss to McLennan Community College on Thursday.
The Thunderbirds, who lost 3-1 to Weatherford College on Thursday, managed to avoid elimination.
The game went into 13 innings as Odessa College used a three-run inning in the ninth to tie the game up.
However, neither team could find the winning run until the top of the 13thwhen New Mexico Junior College took a 9-8 lead.
The Thunderbirds added another run to make it 10-8 and held off Odessa College.
“Our fight was incredible,” Odessa College head coach David Wood said. “It’s been that way all year. I still think we didn’t play our best baseball. I thought we gave them a lot early on and that caused us to have to fight from behind. But what we’ve done all year is never quit and I’m proud of our guys for that.”
The Wranglers took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
New Mexico Junior College responded with a three-run surge in the top of the second.
With the Thunderbirds leading 4-2 in the top of the fourth, the Wranglers made a pitching change, taking out starter Bryce LaBlanc and replacing him with Matt Macklin.
An RBI led to Diego Alfonso-Rivera crossing home plate for a 4-3 game in the bottom of the fourth.
Jose Carmona tried to slide home for a tying run but was ruled out by the ump.
Carmona would get an RBI single on a slider up the middle, scoring Alfonso-Rivera to tie things up in the sixth inning.
A three-run RBI by New Mexico Junior College gave the Thunderbirds a 7-4 lead in the top of the seventh.
Not much continued to go Odessa College’s way as the visitors hit a home run in the top of the ninth for an 8-5 lead.
A run by Robert De La Garza gave the Wrangler an 8-6 deficit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
The Wranglers tied things up with a two-run homer, sending the game into extra innings.
However, it wouldn’t be enough and the historic season came to a close.
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