For the second time in the opening week of the season, the Brownwood Lions were able to erase a three-run deficit as they kept their unbeaten mark intact with a 7-4 victory over the Canyon Eagles Saturday afternoon at Morris Southall Field in their fourth of five games at the Brown County Baseball Tournament.
“Baseball is an ebb and flow type of game and you always have to overcome some type of adversity in a baseball game,” said Lions head coach Blake Sandford. “Then when you get up you have to be able to maintain the lead, keep striking and not be passive. I was really proud of the kids for being resilient and not just giving in. I told them they had to take control, they couldn’t wait for something to happen. You have to be in control of your destiny and they did a good job of doing that.”
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Logan Posey led off with a single then Cole Miller drew a walk, and both runners were moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Caleb Nix. Eli Hill was then plunked by a pitch to load the bases with one out, and Canyon (4-2) opted to lift starting pitcher Christian McGuire in favor of reliever Jacob Burris.
With Austin Wright at the plate, Burris first uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Ike Hall – running for Posey – to score Brownwood’s first run and trim the deficit to 3-1. Another wild pitcher during Wright’s at-bat resulted in Miller racing home and closing the gap to 3-2. Later, Wright was called out on a third strike, but the ball got away from the catcher and an errant throw to first base allowed Wright to reach base and Hill to come home and knot the score at 3.
Later, with two outs in the inning, Jordyn Nickerson joined Wright on the base paths with a single up the middle before Gavin Brandstetter launched a three-run home run off Burris over the left field wall to stake Brownwood to a 6-3 advantage.
“We were trying to create and not be passive, we have to be proactive,” Sandford said. “It was a wonderful job by all of them, and Gavin’s long ball was big for us.”
Canyon answered with a run in the top of the fifth as Carson Allen singled with one out and scored on McGuire’s two-out RBI single.
The Lions, however, answered with their final run in the bottom half of the sixth as Miller singled with one out and came home on Hill’s two-out RBI single down the right field line.
Canyon grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning as Sam Johnson led off with a single and Zabien Urteaga followed with an RBI double to right-center field gap.
The Eagles boosted their lead to 3-0 in the third as Aidew Lewis drew a lead-off walk, and Burris was hit by a pitch with two outs ahead of a two-RBI double to right-center field by McGuire.
Despite falling behind early, Brandstetter picked up the win on the mound as he surrendered four runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in the six-inning, time-limit contest.
“Gavin did a fantastic job against a good Canyon team,” Sandford said. “They’re well-coached, a good-hitting team and he did a great job giving us a chance to win.”
The Lions (4-0-1) conclude tournament action at 7 p.m. tonight against Andrews at Morris Southall Field.
