SAN ANGELO – The Brownwood Lions wasted little time in setting the tone for their Region I-4A baseball bi-district playoff series, scoring four runs in the first inning and six each in the second and third en route to a 16-4 thrashing of the San Angelo Lake View Chiefs Friday night.

District 6-4A second seed Brownwood (20-9) and District 5-4A third seed San Angelo Lake View (9-18-1) will meet again Saturday as Games 2 and 3, if needed, will now take place at Howard Payne University’s Don Shepard Park beginning at 11 a..m. The games were originally slated for Morris Southall Field on the BHS campus, which is unplayable after heavy rains Thursday and Friday.

The Lions produced 13 hits, drew six walks and capitalized on four Lake View errors in the blowout.

Logan Posey led the way with three hits – including a triple and a double – and four RBIs, while Owen Huntsinger added two hits and drove in a team-best five RBIs. Austin Wright and Case Markham both collected a pair of hits and three RBIs while Jordyn Nickerson, Gavin Brandstetter, David Turner, and Taylor Bessent contributed hits as well.

In Brownwood’s first inning, Turner singled with one out, Bessent followed with a double, and Huntsinger drove home both with a base hit to center field. Posey extended the inning with an infield single and Huntsinger later scored on error. Markham then doubled down the third base line to score Justin Valdez, running for Posey.

The Lions’ lead grew to 10-0 in the second inning as Antonio Ybarra drew a lead walk, Nickerson reached on an error and Brandstetter singled to load the bases with no outs. With two down, Ybarra scored on a passed ball ahead of a two-RBI infield single from Huntsinger. Posey then ripped an RBI triple, Markham followed with an RBI double and Wright delivered an RBI single.

Brownwood capped its scoring in the third with another six-spot as Ybarra started the frame with a walk. Brandstetter and Bessent were later hit by pitches to fill the sacks, and a bases-loaded walked by Huntsinger made the score 11-0. Posey then cleared the bags with a three-RBI double ahead of a walk by Markham and Wright’s two-RBI single.

On the mound, Brandstetter worked three innings to notch the win, surrendering two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and four walks. Noah Gonzales pitched the final two innings in relief and gave up a pair of runs on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Lake View loaded the bases in each of the first three innings, final scratching across a pair of runs on a two-out error in the third. The Chiefs scored twice more in the fourth inning, but did not threaten to extend the game in their final at-bat in the fifth.

Brownwood is now 2-0 against Lake View this season, having also won the season opener against the Chiefs, 7-3, at Morris Southall Field.

The series winner will face District 7-4A champion Wichita Falls (17-13) – which ousted District 8-4A fourth seed Lake Worth, 7-2 and 10-0, in their bi-district series – in the Region I-4A area round of the playoffs next weekend.