Lions remain unbeaten in district, push win streak to nine, 5-2 over Glen Rose

March 22, 2024 at 10:10 pm Updated: March 23rd, 2024 at 10:39 am Derrick Stuckly

Austin Pittman (10) finished with two hits and a pair of RBIs for Brownwood (15-4-1, 4-0), which begins the second leg of 6-4A action at home against Mineral Wells (4-10-1, 1-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Through the first of three rounds of District 6-4A baseball action, the Brownwood Lions are still perfect in league play following a 5-2 victory over the Glen Rose Tigers Friday night at Morris Southall Field – the ninth triumph in a row for head coach Blake Sandford’s squad.

Clinging to a 3-2 lead, the Lions (15-4-1, 4-0) struck for two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull away from Glen Rose (11-9, 0-4).

Logan Posey and Eli Hill singled in succession to start the sixth, then Austin Pittman one-out RBI’s bunt single brought home Xavier Zepeda, who was running for Posey, for a 4-2 edge. Austin Wright followed with an RBI fielder’s choice that plated Hill for the final three-run margin.

Gavin Brandstetter tossed 6.1 innings of four-hit ball with 13 strikeouts, four walks and one earned run allowed to secure the win on the mound. Yovani Figueroa recorded the save as he came on to record the final two outs in the seventh inning, both on strikeouts.

The Lions generated seven hits – a triple by Jack Field, a double by Antonio Ybarra, two singles from Pittman, and one base hit apiece from Posey, Hill and David Turner. Pittman finished with a pair of RBIs while Field and Wright chipped in one each.

Glen Rose grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning, scoring on a two-out error, but the Lions answered with single runs in the second, third and fourth frames.

In the second, Brownwood drew even as Posey singled, Hill reached on an error and Field’s RBI sacrifice bunt plated Zepeda, running for Posey.

The Lions moved in front 2-1 in the third as Ybarra led off with a double and scored when Brandstetter reached on a two-out error.

Brownwood’s lead grew to 3-1 in the fourth as Field tripled to center fielder with two outs and later scored on Pittman’s RBI infield single to third base.

Glen Rose crept within 3-2 in the top of the fifth on a two-out bases-loaded walk, one of three issued in the inning to go along with a single and a pair of fielder’s choices.

Brownwood, which has surrendered just 10 runs during its nine-game win streak, host Mineral Wells (4-10-1, 1-3) – which lost to Stephenville (13-5-1, 3-1) Friday – at 7 p.m. Tuesday to start the second of three legs of 6-4A competition. The Lions won the first league meeting, 4-3.