LAMPASAS – The arm and bat of Lampasas’ Ace Whitehead turned out to be too much for the Brownwood Lions to overcome in a 2-1 road loss to the Badgers in District 6-4A baseball action Tuesday night.

Whitehead – who is headed to the University of Texas to continue his baseball career – tossed a complete game three-hitter with 13 strikeouts and four walks. Whitehead also belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to account for the only runs Lampasas needed.

“I told the guys right before we left the field they have nothing to be ashamed of, walk out of that dugout with your heads up and get ready for Friday,” said Lions second-year head coach Brian Harris.”They come to Brownwood and our kids will be ready.”

Brownwood (8-8, 4-3) slipped to third place in the district standings with the loss, a half-game in front of fourth-place Gatesville (13-8, 3-3), who has the week off. Lampasas (8-13, 5-2) moved into sole possession of second place behind Stephenville (11-8, 4-1) – which downed Glen Rose (3-16-1, 0-7) by a 12-5 count Tuesday. If the Lions are able to knock off Lampasas Friday, Brownwood would be in possession of the second seed due to owning the tiebreaker over the Badgers, two wins to one.

“They’re disappointed that we lost, but we didn’t take advantage of some opportunities,” Harris said. “We left the bases loaded once, we left some guys in scoring position, we missed some sac bunts, and that’s the game of baseball. We have to execute those things, especially against a pitcher like Ace Whitehead.”

The Lions scratched across their only run in the top of the fifth inning, but left the bases loaded. With two outs in the fifth, Owen Huntsinger reached after a dropped third strike, then Kris Hobbs was hit by a pitch. Byron Foster followed with an RBI single to plate Huntsinger and shave Lampasas’ lead to 2-1. Gavin Brandstetter then drew a walk to fill the sacks, but Whitehead struck out Hunter Day to escape the jam – the first of six consecutive strikeouts for the Badger southpaw.

Brownwood left eight runners stranded overall including one in the second inning after a Foster lead single; two in the third on walks by Logan Posey and Case Markham; and two in the fourth on a Foster walk and a Day single.

On the mound for the Lions, Day yielded just five hits with five strikeouts and no walks while stranding three base runners.

“I can’t say enough about Hunter Day,” Harris said. “He went pitch for pitch with Ace and that’s the best I’ve ever seen him pitch. If we get that type of performance and outing out of Hunter every time he pitches, we’ll be OK.”

The Lions welcome Lampasas to Morris Southall Field for the second time at 7 p.m. Friday, looking to earn a crucial district series win.

“I was proud of my guys and the way they competed tonight,” Harris said. “We were focused from the first inning all the way through the seventh inning, and that was the most complete game we played in that regard all year.”