Texas beats Boston College in longest game in college baseball history

From Janet DiGiacomo
CNN

(CNN) - The teams were tied 2-2.

It was the sixth inning on Saturday evening. And the crowd of 7,000 who'd gone to see the University of Texas at Austin take on the Boston College Eagles sat on the edge of their seats and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Eighteen innings later - at the top of the 25th inning - Texas senior Travis Tucker pushed through a single to topple Boston College and bring to an end the longest college baseball game in NCAA history. The game is part of the NCAA baseball regional tournament leading up to the College World Series.

The game that began at 7:02 p.m. ET on Saturday at Austin's Disch-Falk Field ended 7 hours and 3 minutes later at 2:05 a.m. Sunday.

The two teams played 25 innings - the equivalent of three full ball games.

The marathon match broke the previous record set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State faced off in a 23-inning battle.

"We believed in ourselves the whole time", said Texas pitcher Austin Wood. "We never doubted that we weren't going to win the game."

Wood, a senior, was one of three pitchers the Texas Longhorns used during the mega match-up against the Eagles.

He replaced starter Chance Ruffin in the 7th inning - and pitched 13 scoreless innings, while managing 14 strikeouts.

Freshman pitcher Austin Dicharry relieved Wood in the 20th inning to take the win.

Both teams return to the field on Sunday. Boston College takes on Army in an elimination game and Texas faces off against the winner of that game.