GRAHAM – The Brownwood Lions opened play in the 15th Annual Walker Stallcup Memorial tournament Thursday afternoon with a 5-0, four-inning victory over the Paradise Panthers, as the schedule was again changed prior to the start of the event.
Coming off a 4-3 home victory over Mineral Wells in Tuesday night’s District 6-4A opener, Brownwood (8-4-1) produced plenty of offense in its first trip to the plate as Yovani Figueroa kept the opposition off the board.
The Lions batted around and struck for four runs in the top of the first inning as Jordyn Nickerson and Gavin Brandstetter drew back-to-back walks out of the gate. David Turner’s RBI single to left field then plated Nickerson and Logan Posey’s RBI sacrifice fly brought home Brandstetter for a 2-0 lead. Cole Miller then singled to center fielder and Jack Field singled to right field to again load the sacks. Eli Hill then came through with a two-RBI single to right field to cap the scoring in the opening frame.
Brownwood increased the advantage to 5-0 in the third inning as Miller led off with a walk and moved to second base on a sacrifice by Field. An errant pick-off attempt allowed Miller to advance to third base, where he scored on an RBI sac fly by Hill – who finished the game with three RBIs.
On the mound, Figueroa worked three shutout innings, surrendering one hit with four strikeouts and four walks.
This year’s Walker Stallcup tournament takes place over five cities, with all of the Lions’ games being held in Graham. On Friday, Brownwood will now face Childress at 11:15 a.m. and Pampa at 3:45 p.m., then conclude tournament action at 11:15 a.m. Saturday against Wichita Falls in a rematch of last year’s area round playoff series – weather permitting.