The Brownwood Lions shaved a six-run deficit to one, but the Stephenville Yellow Jackets fired back with the final six runs of the game for a 15-8 victory in the District 6-4A baseball finale for both teams Monday at Howard Payne University’s Don Shepard Park.
District 6-4A champion Stephenville (8-8, 11-1) scored in every inning but one, including two runs in the sixth and fourth in the seventh after Brownwood (10-11, 6-6) had closed the gap to 9-8.
The Lions used five pitchers – Xadrian Mares, Hunter Day, Byron Foster, Atticus Porter and Gavin Brandstetter – who yielded 16 hits, issued seven walks, beaned three batters and hurled four wild pitches. Brownwood’s defense committed four errors as the Lions gave up just seven earned runs.
Stephenville also sent five players to the mound as Brownwood collected eight hits and drew three walks, but left five base runners stranded. Standouts at the plate for the Lions included Brandstetter with two hits and a pair of RBIs, Kris Hobbs with one hit and two driven in, and Foster notched two RBIs without the benefit of a hit. Owen Huntsinger also collected two hits, Day finished with one hit and one RBI, and Mares and Reece Bolton contributed one hit apiece as well.
The Lions spotted Stephenville a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks an RBI sacrifice fly by Kyle Styron and a three-RBI double from Dylanger Merion, who finished with a game-high six RBIs.
Brownwood closed the gap to 4-3 with two runs in the bottom of the first on an RBI ground out by Hobbs that scored Bolton, who led off with a walk, and an RBI sac fly from Foster that plated Huntsinger, who doubled. In the bottom of the second, Mares singled and came home when Case Markham reached on a two-out error, one of five by Stephenville.
The Yellow Jackets answered with five runs over the next three innings to pad their cushion to 9-3 thanks to an RBI single and an RBI ground out from Merion, an RBI triple from Cutter Gray, a wild pitch and a Brownwood error.
Trailing by six runs in the bottom of the fifth, the Lions made their final charge. Kaden Bessent reached on an error, Bolton walked and Huntsinger singled to load the bases with one out. Hobbs and Foster then reached on back-to-back errors, plating Bessent and Bolton. Brandstetter then drilled a two-RBI double over the center field’s head to knock in Huntsinger and Hobbs. Later, Day picked up an RBI on an infield single to shortstop that drove home Foster, but the rally ended there.
Stephenville pushed the lead to 11-8 in the sixth by scoring on an error and the back half of a double steal attempt, then tacked on four insurances runs in the seventh highlighted by a two-RBI single from Case Dunavant and an RBI base hit from Corbin Poston.
The Lions, the third seed from District 6-4A, will tangle with District 5-4A runner-up Iowa Park in a best-of-three bi-district playoff series this weekend. Game 1 is set for 7 p.m. Friday with Games 2 and 3, if needed, to follow at 4 p.m. Saturday. All games will take place at Weatherford High School.
