In a game that featured 23 runs, 20 hits, 14 walks, 12 errors and 18 runners left on base, the Brownwood Lions emerged with a 13-10 victory over the Lampasas Badgers Tuesday night at Morris Southall Field to move to the top of the District 6-4A baseball standings.

“Starting out 2-0, you’re not supposed to complain about that but we do still have some work to do,” said Lions second-year head coach Brian Harris. “This was a good game to learn from. We had our ups and our downs and they made it a really close game there at the end, and there was a little pressure there.”

Behind an eight-run second inning, the Lions (6-5, 2-0) led at one point, 11-2. Lampasas (4-11-1, 1-1) – on the strength of consecutive four-run frames in the fourth and fifth innings – closed the gap to three runs before Gavin Brandstetter came on in relief of Hunter Day and Atticus Porter to close out the win.

“Gavin came in and shut the door and did really well,” Harris said. “That’s the best I’ve ever seen him throw. That’s exactly what I was hoping for whenever we decided to make him a varsity baseball player.”

In 2.2 innings of work, Brandstetter did not allow a run or hit and struck out four batters. Day got the start and worked three innings, yielding six runs on five hits with one strikeout and five walks. Porter pitched 1.1 innings of relief where Lampasas produced four runs on five hits with three strikeouts.

“Hunter didn’t have his best stuff and he admitted it, he struggled a little bit,” Harris said. “He’ll bounce back and be fine. But what our pitching staff needs to understand is when you’re not throwing strikes, then your defense can sit back and their heels and lose focus. That’s something me as a coach will address and we’ll get it fixed.”

Leading the charge offensively for the Lions were Kris Hobbs with two hits and three RBIs, Brandstetter and Byron Foster both with a pair of hits and two RBIs, and Owen Huntsinger with two hits and an RBI. Day and Reece Bolton also contributed one hit and one RBI apiece.

“There’s so many guys to name offensively that did a good job of giving us good at-bats and being very competitive at the plate,” Harris said. “I am happy about the way we hit the ball. We did a good job coming out of the gate.”

The Lions escaped the top of the first inning down just 1-0 as Lampasas left the bases loaded. Brownwood then took the lead, 2-1, in the bottom of the first as Foster singled home Huntsinger, who doubled with one out, and Day singled home Hobbs, who walked.

Lampasas drew even at 2 in the top of the second, but Brownwood erupted for eight runs in the bottom of the frame to seize control, 10-2.

In the Lion second, Xadrian Mares singled and Bolton walked ahead of an RBI double by Huntsinger that put Brownwood back in front, 3-2. Hobbs then followed with a two-RBI single that drove in Bolton and Huntsinger for a 5-2 advantage. Hobbs later scored on a wild pitch, making the score 6-2. With one out, Taylor Bessent was hit by a pitch, and with two outs, Brandstetter singled home Bessent for a 7-2 lead. Logan Posey and Mares then walked and Bolton followed with an RBI single for an 8-2 cushion. The final two runs came home when Huntsinger reached on a dropped fly ball with two outs.

Brownwood’s lead peaked at 11-2 in the bottom of the third as Foster drew a leadoff walk and scored on Brandstetter’s two-out RBI single.

Lampasas closed the gap to 11-6 in the top of the fourth as three hits, a walk, a hit batter, and a pair of Brownwood errors aided in the outburst. Runs scored on two separate errors, a wild pitch and an RBI ground out by Logan Coleman.

The Lions pushed the lead to 13-6 in the bottom of the fourth as Mares reached on a leadoff error and scored on Hobbs’ two-out RBI single, then Foster plated Hobbs with an RBI double to the base of the left field fence.

Again Lampasas posted a four-spot in the top of the fifth, as the Lions committed two more errors and gave up four hits in the frame. Tak Stinnett drove in two on a single and Coleman and Keagan Richardson added RBI base hits

“We got a big lead and started kicking the ball around,” Harris said. “The one thing we emphasize everyday in practice is playing catch and that includes fielding ground balls and catching fly balls and catching it when someone throws it to you. We really take pride in that and we did not do a good job of that tonight. I’m really not happy about that.”

The Lions scored all 13 runs in their first four trips to the plate off Gauge Gholson and Carson Bekker. With two on and no outs in the bottom of the fifth, Lampasas brought on Ace Whitehead – who tossed an 18-strikeout, one-hitter in the district opener and is headed to the University of Texas to play baseball – and he retired the last six batters in order.

In other District 6-4A action Tuesday, Stephenville won its league opener over Glen Rose by a 4-3 count. The Yellow Jackets are 1-0 in district while the Tigers slipped to 0-2.

Brownwood will visit Gatesville (9-6, 0-1) in district action at 7 p.m. Friday.