The Brownwood Lions squandered a three-run lead and a chance at their first District 6-4A sweep, and made their road to the postseason much tougher due to a 7-5 loss to the Glen Rose Tigers Thursday night at Morris Southall Field.
Leading 5-2 after two innings, the Lions surrendered two runs to Glen Rose in the top of the third inning, one in the fifth to create a tie, and the final two runs in the top of the seventh. Joe Randell led off the Tigers’ final at-bat in the seventh with a solo home run over the left field fence, which proved to be the decisive run of the contest.
The loss drops the Lions (11-15, 3-5) into fourth place by themselves, one game ahead of Glen Rose (15-12, 2-6) and Stephenville (16-9-2, 2-6) with two games left. Brownwood faces second-place Mineral Wells (14-9-1, 6-2) next week, while Stephenville meets first-place Brock (20-2, 7-1) and Glen Rose challenges third-place Graham (14-9, 4-4).
Trailing 2-0 heading to the bottom of the second inning, the Lions – who defeated Glen Rose 10-2 on Tuesday – produced all their runs for the rematch.
Jack Field started the second with a double and stole third base, Noah Gonzalez walked, and Field later scored on an RBI sacrifice by Mason Milwee, who reached base on a throwing error. Dario Rodriguez was hit by a pitch ahead of a two-RBI single by Wyatt Wolf, which scored Julius Lara – running for Gonzalez – and Milwee. Antonio Ybarra was then plunked by a pitch, and Austin Wright came through with a one-out, two-RBI double to right field that scored Rodriguez and Wolf.
Brownwood finished the game with nine hits – two each by Wright and Wolf and one apiece by Ybarra, Field, Rodriguez, Milwee and Robbie Robinson.
On the mound, Gonzalez pitched the first three innings and gave up four earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Logan Flores tossed the final four frames and surrendered a pair of earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and one walk. The Lion defense committed three errors behind them.
Brownwood visits Mineral Wells at 7 p.m. Tuesday, then hosts the Rams next Friday, April 26, also at 7 p.m., to wrap up the regular season.
