The Brownwood Lions split their final two games at the Brown County baseball tournament Saturday at Morris Southall Field, suffering a 3-1 loss to Jacksboro before closing with a 6-4 victory over Jim Ned.
“I knew coming in it was going to be a tough day,” said Lions fourth-year head coach Brian Harris. “Jacksboro is returning a lot of starters and I believe they went three rounds deep in the playoffs last year and Jim Ned’s got so much tradition and their expectations to win are always there. I knew both games were going to be extremely tough. The theme of the day was to get better and overall I’m extremely pleased with where we are.”
The next action for the Lions (4-2) will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Clyde.
Lions 6, Jim Ned 4
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning, the Lions struck for five runs thanks in part to some crucial Jim Ned miscues.
The second inning for the Lions started with Case Markham reaching on an errant throw by the Jim Ned shortstop. Gavin Brandstetter then singled home Markham and the ball got past the Jim Ned left fielder, allowing Brandstetter to advance to third base. After a Cole Miller walk, courtesy-runner Jordyn Nickerson stole second base and a wild throw permitted Brandstetter to score from third and even the game at 3.
David Turner then reached on a fielder’s choice as Nickerson was able to avoid a run down and return to third base safely. Taylor Bessent then reached on another Jim Ned blunder as a potential inning-ending double play ball was dropped at second base, allowing Nickerson to score the go-ahead run.
Leading 4-3, Cameron Harte – running for Turner – came home when Campbell Gilmore reached on a ball the Jim Ned third baseman couldn’t flag down. Owen Huntsinger then followed with an RBI single to right field to plate Jake Field, who reached on a fielder’s choice, with the Lions’ final run of the contest.
Brownwood’s first run crossed the plate in the second inning as the frame began with a double down the right field line by Turner. With two outs, Gilmore delivered an RBI single to left field that plated Turner and closed the gap to 2-1.
Miller tossed 6.1 innings for the Lions to notch the win, allowing four runs on three hits with three strikeouts, three walks and two hit batters.
“We got down again but Cole settled in and did a really good job,” Harris said. “Once he got warmed up he assured me he had it and to leave him out there. We kept battling at the plate where we had some really good at-bats and some at-bat where we abandoned our philosophy a little bit. We left the bases loaded a couple of times and that was disappointing because we had a chance to put the game away with the meat our of lineup at the plate and didn’t get it done. That’s something we’re going to have to work on and get better at.”
Jacksboro 3, Lions 1
The Lions committed two errors and Jacksboro capitalized off three walks and a hit batter in the first inning to score all its runs.
After the first inning, Brownwood pitcher Noah Gonzalez did not yield another hit and struck out 10 batters, but the Lions offense left nine runners stranded after collecting six hits.
The Lions’ lone run crossed the plate in the bottom of the third inning after Miller reached on a one-out walk. With two down in the frame, Huntsinger lifted an RBI double over the outstretched glove of Jacksboro’s left fielder, bringing the Lions within 3-1.
Brownwood left two runners on base in each of the first three innings, and one on in each of the last three frames.
Brandstetter, who also doubled, and Huntsinger finished two hits apiece to go along with one each from Gilmore and Turner.
“We had a hard time getting out of the first inning,” Harris said. “We just have to make the routine plays and that’s what cost us. We hit the ball really well, but we hit it right at them. I was proud of our at-bats, and we settled down on defense. Noah pitched a game after the first inning, struck out 10, so I was really proud of the way he came on.”
