BURNET – The District 6-4A champion Brownwood Lions jumped out to a four-run advantage but were unable to hang on as District 27-5A front-runner San Antonio Alamo Heights scored the final nine runs to storm back for a 10-5 non-district victory here Thursday night.
The Lions (20-6-1, 9-1) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the non-district, neutral site contest, then tacked on three more runs in the second inning to build a four-run cushion.
Alamo Heights (20-6, 13-0) cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the first. A second run was tacked on in the third inning, three more in the fourth evened the game at 5, and Alamo Heights scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to seize a 7-5 advantage. Three additional runs crossed the plate in sixth for the final five-run advantage.
In Brownwood’s two-run first inning, David Turner was hit by a pitch with one out and Gavin Brandstetter followed with a double. With two down, Noah Gonzalez came through with a two-RBI single to center field.
Eli Hill and Antonio Ybarra reached on consecutive singles to start the second inning then ,with two outs, Brandstetter launched a three-run home run over the center field wall for a 5-1 advantage.
The Lions finished with nine hits – three by Brandstetter, who drove in three; two from Hill; and one each by Gonzalez, which scored a pair, along with Ybarra, Austin Wright, and Logan Posey.
On the mound, Gonzalez worked the first three innings and gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Turner took over in the fourth and gave up three unearned runs on three hits with one strikeout in an inning of work. Wright pitched the fifth inning and allowed two unearned runs, while Austin Pittman came on in the sixth inning and yielded three runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts and a three walks.
Defensively, Brownwood committed a pair of costly errors.
The Lions wrap up District 6-4A action next week against Glen Rose on the road Tuesday, April 23 and at home Friday, Aug. 26. Both games will start at 7 p.m.