The Brownwood Lions scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning and Gavin Brandstetter struck out 14 batters as head coach Brian Harris’ squad remained alone atop the District 6-4A standings with a 9-2 victory over the Graham Steers Tuesday night at Morris Southall Field.
The third and final game between the Lions (17-6-1, 6-1) and Graham (9-11-1, 2-5) will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday in Graham, with Brownwood seeking its second three-game sweep of a league opponent.
Trailing 1-0 after a sloppy top of the first inning, the Lions took control in the bottom of the second as Cole Miller, Owen Huntsinger, Taylor Bessent and Campbell Gilmore walked in succession to knot the score at 1. Another free pass to Logan Posey – the fifth in a row – allowed the Lions to grab a 2-1 lead.
Antonio Ybarra followed with an RBI single to center field to increase the advance to 3-1 ahead of a bases-clearing, three-RBI double by Brandstetter.
Leading 6-1, the Lions added a run in the third on an RBI single by Gilmore that plated Huntsinger, who started the frame with a double.
Brownwood’s final two runs scored in the fifth inning as Gilmore’s RBI single knocked in Miller, who led off with a double, and Justin Valdez’s RBI sacrifice fly plated Cameron Harte, running for Bessent who walked.
Graham’s two runs were the result of a Nolan Casbeer solo home run in the sixth inning, and Casbeer also scored in the first on Brownwood’s lone error which followed his one-out double.
The Lions mustered just five hits but walked seven times and were aided by a Graham error.
Brandstetter, Miller, Huntsinger, Gilmore and Ybarra collected the hits.
Brandstetter also tossed a complete game, yielding two earned runs on six hits with no walks and the aforementioned 14 strikeouts. Graham also left four base runners stranded.
