STEPHENVILLE – Gavin Brandstetter tossed a two-hit shutout while the offense scored in three separate innings as the Brownwood Lions clinched their sixth straight postseason berth with a 6-0 victory at District 6-4A champion Stephenville Friday night.

The Lions (9-15-1, 6-6) will head into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed from 6-4A and will face District 5-4A runner-up Vernon (16-7, 8-2) next weekend in the bi-district round of the playoffs. Glen Rose’s earlier 5-3 win over Gatesville Friday pushed Brownwood out of the second seed.

“I can’t be more proud of the guys,” said Lions third-year head coach Bryan Harris. “What you saw tonight was the team I told them they could be. And I’ve been telling them that from day one. Everybody we’ve played, everybody that watched us play, the opposing coaches, everyone in the district told us what we have talent wise and that we are right there with Stephenville. I keep telling our guys that and sometimes you just have to believe in yourself. And I tell the guys if you don’t believe in yourself nobody else will. And they believed in themselves tonight.”

Brandstetter struck out just one and walked a pair, but the Lions hurler started a trio of triple plays as Brownwood’s defense turned in one of its better outings of the season.

“What a job Gavin did on the mound,” Harris said. “He was locked in, he threw strikes and he played defense and the guys played behind him. David Turner came up with three phenomenal plays – a backhand, a shorthand and another short hop and play on the run. And Logan Posey called the game tonight, I didn’t call and it and Coach (Brett) Mouser didn’t call it, and he called a really good game.”

The Lions scored once in the second inning, three times in the third and added two more runs in the fifth off the Stephenville (17-9-1, 9-3) combination of Reece Elston and Jadon Johnson, who struck out 14 batters but allowed eight hits.

Brandstetter and Taylor Bessent led the Lions with two hits apiece while Posey, Turner, Case Markham and Justin Valdez added one each.

Brownwood scored the only run it needed in the first inning as Posey led off with a single and later courtesy-runner Tristan Salinas scored on a balk.

The Lions boosted the lead to 4-0 in the third as Valdez walked, Jacob Hataway reached on an error and Markham was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Later, Brandstetter singled home Valdez while errors on the play allowed both Hataway and Markham to cross the plate as well.

The final two runs in the fifth inning were the result of Cole Miller laying down a bunt that Stephenville misplayed – one of four errors by the Yellow Jackets – which allowed Markham, who reached on a dropped third strike, and Brandstetter, who singled, to come home.