Hidden amongst the sports news of the weekend was a gem that you should know about. The headline read: “Longhorns win 25-inning marathon in College World Series,” but the real story was hidden in the third paragraph.

Quick summary: Texas beat Boston College 3-2 in 25 innings Saturday/Sunday, setting a new NCAA record for the longest game played.

The real story: Texas reliever Austin Wood threw 13 innings of relief ball, including 12 1/3 innings of no-hit ball, while throwing 169 pitches. That’s right, 169 pitches of pure domination, and this isn’t the top story?

BC reliever Mike Belfiore went 9 2/3 innings in the same game and was relegated to the eighth paragraph.

And amazingly, neither pitcher’s arm has fallen off yet. When these two are still healthy in a week, this should be a lesson to the big league coaches who think that if a professional athlete throws more than 100 pitches in a game that his career will end. Blah, blah, protect your investment, blah — it can be done.

I’m not saying that pitchers should routinely be throwing 169 pitches a game, I’m saying that when a guy goes eight scoreless and is at 110 pitches, you don’t have to lift him for a much, much shittier pitcher who you have arbitrarily labeled your “closer.”

Yes, a 25-inning game is the headline, but every single column written about this game should have been about Wood’s amazing performance. And the ridiculousness that is pitch counts.

Well done, sir, Nolan Ryan would be proud (and everyone in baseball history prior to 1980).

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