High School

Look: Nationally ranked Sinton loses in record-long Texas (UIL) high school state baseball semifinals

Watch the dramatic four-run China Springs burst in the 12th inning

Andy Buhler

AUSTIN, Texas — After 11 stalemate innings, China Spring's bats came alive against Sinton, the nation's No. 3 ranked team.

The Cougars rattled off two consecutive squeezes and a two-run double to left field to pull ahead and beat the defending state champion Pirates 8-4 in the UIL Class 4A finals on Wednesday.

The 12-inning saga became the longest game ever played in the 4A state tournament. 

In the top of the 12th, China Spring scored runners from third with suicide squeezes on consecutive at-bats — a Braxton Bowers bunt scored Daniel and Dillon Bowers bunted to score Black. That put the Cougars up 6-4, until senior Mason Kirk drilled a two-run double to left field to give the winning margin.

China Spring (36-5-1) will play for the 4A championship at 6:30 p.m. Thursday - also at UFCU Disch-Falk Field - against Texarkana Liberty-Eylau, which beat Canyon Randall in Wednesday’s other semifinal.

Scroll up to the top of the post for highlights from the game, as well as China Spring's four-run burst in the 12th inning. 

Video is by SBLive's Andrew McCulloch and the NFHS Network.

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Andy Buhler
ANDY BUHLER

Andy Buhler is an editor overseeing Texas and the breaking news desk. He brings more than five years of experience covering high school sports across the state of Washington and beyond, and helps oversee the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national boys basketball rankings. He has covered everything from the Final Four, to MLS to velodrome. His bylines can be found in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), The Associated Press, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), The Oregonian and more. He holds a degree from Gonzaga and is based out of Portland, Oregon.

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