BRADENTON, Fla. – Cullman High School gave baseball fans in the Sunshine State a game they will never forget. Taking part in the IMG Baseball Academy National Invitational, the No. 4 squad from Class 6A in the Alabama High School Athletic Association went 17 innings with a quality program from Seminole, Florida in Osceola High School.
Osceola broke the tie with a run in the top half of the 17th inning then shut down a comeback bid by the Bearcats for a 2-1 victory in a game that took four hours to be played Monday afternoon.
Osceola scored a run in its half of the fifth inning against Bearcat starter Jacob Heatherly after Cullman committed an error.
The game was a pitcher's duel with the Warriors getting two hits off Heatherly and Cullman managing a single going into the last of the seventh.
With two outs, Wheeler Eastman singled home Grayson Taylor to tie the score. The Bearcats could not push in the winning run with the game encountering plenty of extra inning baseball.
Neither team could deliver as the game moved well into the 17th inning and approached four hours of hard fought competition. The Warriors got a run against reliever Will Morrison that would hold up in the bottom of the 17th.
The loss snapped a 7-game winning streak for the Bearcats, who defeated Austin four times last week and won a 3-game weekend series from Thompson. The Bearcats fell to 20-5 on the season.
Cullman was placed into the tournament bracket of the invitational with a game against Christian Brothers from the state of Tennessee at noon on Tuesday. Christian Brothers is the top seed going into this part of the format.
The classic runs through Thursday, with Cullman coming home for a doubleheader Saturday at Class 7A powerhouse Hoover High School.
