“We’ve done a better job of late playing 21 outs,” said Lions second-year head coach Brian Harris. “We’ve got to play all seven innings and there at the end I told them they did a good job finishing the game, even though it took 24 outs tonight, we got it done.”
With the win, the Lions (10-9, 6-4) moved into a second-place tie with Lampasas (9-15, 6-4), while Brownwood also prevented Gatesville (14-10, 3-5) from improving on its fourth-place standing.
Hunter Day drew a walk to begin the eighth inning for the Lions, then moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Taylor Bessent. Logan Posey followed with an RBI double down the right field line that plated Day with the decisive run.
Gavin Brandstetter, who picked up the win in relief, yielded a one-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning but Gatesville – who won the first meeting between the two teams 8-7 in eight innings on its home turf – could not complete another comeback. Brandstetter allowed just one hit in three innings of relief.
The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Reece Bolton led off by reaching on an error, then Byron Foster later came through with an RBI single. Day later contributed a two-RBI single that plated Foster and Kris Hobbs, who reached on another Gatesville miscue.
Brownwood stretched the lead to 4-0 in the top of the second as Posey drew a lead off walk and Hobbs came through with a two-out RBI single that plated Tommy Perez, running for Posey.
Gatesville closed the gap to 4-2 in the bottom of the second inning, then added single runs in the fourth and sixth frames to draw even.
“We talked last week about having to take it one game at a time,” Harris said. “The old cliché, take it one game at a time, take it one inning at a time, I reiterated that before we got off the bus and I also told them it was going to take everyone on the bus to win this game tonight.”
The Lions are off until Tuesday, April 27 when they host first-place Stephenville (14-8, 7-1).