ODESSA, TX (KWES) - UTPB baseball coach Brian Reinke gave Evan Gattis a second shot at the game he had left behind. After a single season with the Falcons, Gattis signed with the Braves and has been with the Astros since 2015.
Which means his old coach spent the last week watching him as he's played in the end all, be all for baseball, the World Series.
He spent the first four games on the couch like the rest of us, but when his friend got tickets, he packed his bags and hit the road.
"We were getting ready to scrimmage Howard Junior College and my wife showed up and the look on her face was just like, man something is wrong. She was like you have to leave now. And I was like what? It was pretty emotional to get surprised like that and get to go to the World Series," said Reinke.
Reinke was at game 5 on Sunday night. He said he's watched Gattis in the big leagues before but the atmosphere and high stakes made this game one of a kind.
"It brought back a lot of memories. There were some flashbacks from when he played here. Just things he did, some of the people I was with, they could really tell. It's a really neat feeling," said Reinke.
After the game, the two met in the tunnel.
"We didn't really have to say much. We hugged each other. We talked about the game. We talked about the series. It was a great deal," said Reinke.
The Dodgers tied up the series 3-3 on Tuesday night, which means there will be a game 7 tonight.
