Three pitchers combined to allow just three runs, and the Brownwood Lions put up multiple runs in three separate innings en route to a 7-3 season opening victory over the San Angelo Lake View Chiefs Monday night at Morris Southall Field.
“I’m proud of the win for sure,” said Lions fourth-year head coach Brian Harris. “We came out a little bit slow but once we adjusted to their pitching and got settled in at the plate we did a good job of working the count and got some base runners to put some pressure on them and then got some timely hits.”
After giving up the game’s first run in the top of the first inning, the Lions immediately answered with two in the bottom half.
Case Markham led off the inning with a triple to center field and scored the tying run on a wild pitch during the at-bat of David Turner. With one down, Campbell Gilmore reached on a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice by Austin Wright. Gavin Brandstetter then lassoed an RBI double to base of the right field wall, pushing Gilmore across the plate for a 2-1 Brownwood lead.
Lake View knotted the score at 2 in the top of the fifth, and the Lions again had an immediate response in the bottom half of the frame. Gilmore drew a leadoff walk ahead of a sac bunt and wild throw during Wright’s trip to the plate, which put two runners on with no outs. With one down, Justin Valdez, running for Gilmore, scored on a wild pitch during Logan Posey’s at-bat, then Posey lifted an RBI sac fly to right field to bring home Wright for a 4-2 Brownwood cushion.
The Lions added three insurance runs in the sixth inning as Markham led off with a walk and Gilmore reached on a one-out error, and both scored on a two-RBI hit-and-run double to left-center field by Wright, who later scored on a two-out wild pitch during Noah Gonzalez’s at-bat.
“Our goal is to put pressure on their defense and if we can get base runners, however you get on, we want to put the ball in play with bunts, hits and runs, slash and runs,” Harris said. “That’s our goal so I’m not surprised we were able to do those things because our kids know what our philosophy is in that regard.”
On the mound, Gonzalez, Brandstetter and Cole Miller combined to walk 10 batters and bean two more, but yielded just one hit and recorded nine strikeouts between them. Gonzalez saw the bulk of the action and picked up the win in relief of Miller, working 3.1 innings. Brandstetter tossed the final inning.
“Noah did a really good job coming in in relief of Cole and really shut them down,” Harris said. “He found himself in trouble a few times, but always found his way out so I was really proud of him, he did a good job. That’s been our strength through our scrimmage season. Our pitchers have been around the plate, they’ve done a really good job. Out pitching overall has been the strength of what we’re doing.”
The Lions (1-0) will host five games in three days during the Brown County tournament, beginning Thursday. Brownwood’s schedule features a doubleheader against Andrews and Sweetwater starting at 5 p.m. Thursday, one game at 5 p.m. Friday against Perryton, and another doubleheader at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Jacksboro and Jim Ned.
“We need to see improvement and we need to see consistency, that’s the main thing,” Harris said of the tournament goals. “We want guys to buy into the philosophy of what we’re asking them to do at the plate and in the field and when it’s their turn to do their job.”
