Brownwood pitchers Noah Gonzalez and Austin Wright combined on a two-hitter, but eight walks on the mound and a mere three hits from the Lions offense resulted in a 3-1 loss to the Graham Steers Tuesday night in District 6-4A baseball action at Morris Southall Field.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Lions head coach Blake Sandford, whose team has dropped two of its first three league outings. “We need to have more competitive at-bats, but I’m proud of Noah Gonzalez and his efforts after coming off a little injury time, and I’m proud of our defense, we had some extreme effort plays.”
Brownwood scored its lone run in the bottom of the first inning as Antonio Ybarra led off with single, but was retired when Austin Pittman reached on a fielder’s choice. Following an Austin Wright ground out to third base for the second out, an errant throw by the first baseman sailed into the outfield allowing Pittman to score all the way from second base.
The other two hits from Brownwood both came in the fourth inning as Wright led off with a single but was thrown out attempting to advance on a wild pitch, and Jack Field singled with two outs. Graham pitcher Ryder Taylor went on to strike out eight Lions and walk just one to notch the victory.
Graham drew even at 1 in the bottom of the second inning as Tyson Louder drew a lead off walk, while Ty Thompson also reached on a free pass. With one out, Colt Taylor was walked as well to load the sacks. An RBI sacrifice fly from Mason Milton plated Louder with the tying run.
The Steers grabbed the lead in the top of the fourth as Tanner Hurford reached on a two-out dropped third strike, which would have ended the frame. Colt Taylor then drew a walk ahead of a two-RBI triple to left field by Milton, which proved to be the difference in the contest.
The reigning 6-4A champion Lions (9-12, 1-2) conclude their two-game league series with the Steers at Graham (12-6, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.
