BIRMINGHAM — The Alabama High School Athletic Association has a new record for the longest game in history after Gardendale and Hueytown battled for 17 innings on Wednesday, April 3.

After 16 scoreless innings, junior Auburn commit Caiden Combs delivered a bases-loaded, walk-off hit to give the Gardendale Rockets a 2-1 win four hours and 31 minutes after first pitch.

According to the AHSAA Record Book, the previous longest game was a 16-inning contest won by Spain Park over Sparkman, 9-6, in 2012. Wednesday’s game was four outs longer and came up eight innings shy of the national record. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations’ Record Book, schools from Hawaii and California are tied for the record after they played 25-inning marathons in 1967 and 1975, respectively.

Hawaii’s Kamehameha beat McKinley 9-7 in 1967 before California’s Hayward topped San Lorenzo 2-1 in 1975. Florida owns the record for the longest shutout in history when Miami nipped Hialeah 1-0 over 24 innings in 1970.

How it happened

Back in Alabama Wednesday night, Gardendale needed only two pitchers. The Rockets’ ace, Logan Fitzgerald, pitched the first nine innings and allowed four hits, one walk, no runs and struck out eight. Combs pitched the final eight innings and yielded an unearned run in the top of the 17th but pitched out of a jam to notch the win. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out eight as well.

Combined, they threw 213 pitches with 136 strikes – a 63.8% rate – allowed seven hits and struck out 16.

Miles Bradberry, who had two hits for Hueytown, reached base on an error in the top of the 17th inning and later scored on an RBI single by Hunter Syx.

In the bottom of the inning, Gardendale tied the game 1-1 after Jackson Firestone drove in Braden Chapple. With one out and the bases full with Carson Burdette on third, Adam Yazel on second and Firestone on first, Combs came to the plate. He singled to left and plated Burdette with the winning run.

“We had who we wanted at the plate, and Caiden delivered. It was a great team win. I looked at my watch as the game ended,” said Rocket head baseball coach Ryan Keedy. “It ended at 8:31 p.m. We played for four hours and 31 minutes. We had a junior varsity game scheduled after we finished, and a lot of those fans were already there. We had a good crowd, and nobody wanted to leave.”

Shortstop Cooper Jarvis and catcher Easton Kleyn had three hits each for the Rockets, Combs had two hits and two walks, and lead-off hitter Adam Yazel batted nine times and drew five walks. Bo Bachtel and Kleyn each had a double.

Golden Gophers fights until the end

Hueytown head baseball coach Billy Chandler used five pitchers in the game.

Braden McCrary started and tossed five scoreless innings and gave up three hits, two walks and punched out four. Samuel Vaughan then pitched the next five innings, allowed four hits and six walks and struck out five. William Vaughan hurled the next five innings and scattered four hits and four walks with six strikeouts.

Marshall Bradberry pitched a scoreless 16th inning but was credited with giving up both runs and was pinned with the loss. Tanner Vaughn gave up the final hit.

Golden Gopher pitchers combined to give up 13 hits and 15 walks with 15 strikeouts. They threw 284 pitches with 164 strikes for a 57.7% rate. Both teams combined for a 60.3% strike rate with 300 strikes over 497 total pitches with 31 strikeouts.

Bradberry and Syx had two hits each for Hueytown, and Jacob Hanberry had a double for Hueytown’s only extra-base hit. The Rockets made two errors and Hueytown just one.

Maybe not teams’ final meeting?

“Both teams played well,” said Keedy. “Several of our fans wanted to know if we would be playing Hueytown again this season. We don’t have any other games scheduled; however, I think we both hope so. They are in the South, and we are in the North, and the only way we could meet again would be in the Class 6A state championship series.”

That would indeed be baseball karma at its best.

Skipper familiar with long games

Keedy, head coach of the Gardendale Rockets, has been around the baseball diamond since his days in diapers. His dad Pat played in the majors when Ryan was just a toddler.

His dad returned to Jefferson County to coach high school baseball and coached his son at Mortimer Jordan then brought him onto his coaching staff at Gardendale over a decade ago. When Pat stepped down in 2018, Ryan became the head coach.

Ryan was a tremendous hitter and first baseman who earned all-state honors in high school. He was then outstanding at Wallace-Hanceville and UAB where he earned All-America honors and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. He spent three years in the minors.

“I played in a 16-inning game in my first year in the minors,” he said. “That was wild. But this one, well, it was something we won’t soon forget.”

SCORE BY INNING

Hueytown: 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-1 – 1 (2 errors, 7 hits)

Gardendale: 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-0-0, 0-2 – 2 (1 error, 13 hits)