GATESVILLE – The Brownwood Lions baseball team came up on the short end o a fifth straight outing Tuesday night, dropping an eight-inning non-district affair to the Gatesville Hornets, 4-3.

Trailing 1-0 after one inning, the Lions (7-10) grabbed a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning as Austin Pittman reached on an error that allowed Dario Rodriguez, who was plunked by pitch, to score, then Austin Wright’s RBI single knocked in Pittman.

Gatesville (11-5-1) pulled even at 2 in the bottom of the third and again forged ahead, 3-2, in the bottom of the sixth.

The Lions knotted the score at 3 in the top of the seventh as back-to-back one-out singles from Wyatt Wolf and Pittman was followed by an RBI sacrifice fly from Wright.

But in the bottom of the eighth, two walks and two hit batters produced the winning run for Gatesville.

Brownwood managed just four hits – two by Wright and one apiece by Wolf and Pittman.

On the mound, Harrison Sweeney and Wright combined to yield four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts, four walks and three hit batters.

The Lions next host Abilene High at noon Saturday in the pre-district finale before opening District 6-4A action at Stephenville on Tuesday, March 25.