The No. 21 Brownwood Lions’ recent formula of suffocating pitching and clutch hitting produced an eighth consecutive victory Tuesday night, as head coach Blake Sandford’s squad chalked up a 3-1 non-district triumph over the Gatesville Hornets at Morris Southall Field.
“The kids are playing hard,” Sandford said. “We have a term this year, we’re trying to be savage. We want to be as tough-minded and competitive as we can on every single thing that we do and the kids are buying into that and doing a really good job.”
The Lions (14-4-1, 3-0), who have yielded just eight runs during their eight-game win streak, were sparked on the mound by Noah Gonzalez, who tossed 6.1 innings and allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts, three walks and seven runners stranded. David Turner notched the final two outs for the save.
“Noah’s velocity was up and he did a really good job of keeping us in the ball game and doing what he’s supposed to do,” Sandford said. “He’s great pitcher and when you have pretty good defense good things can happen. Coach (Caleb) Hill has been working with the pitchers and we want to be dominant on the mound whenever we get out there. I think they’re starting to be believe they can be pretty good and if that can keep that trending we want to bottle this up and keep going.”
At the plate, Gavin Brandstetter launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to plate himself and Turner, who reached on a fielder’s choice. Then in the bottom of the third, Logan Posey’s two-out RBI double brought home Jordyn Nickerson, who was hit by a pitch to start the frame, to push the advantage back to two runs.
“We got another timely hit with Gavin,” Sandford said. “We’re still trying to score multiple runs in innings and that’s something we need to get better at, but we’re doing a good job that when we score runs, it’s timely when it happens. That’s what we’ve been fortunate to do.”
Brownwood’s first inning began with Nickerson reaching on an error, then Turner followed with a fielder’s choice that erased Nickerson. But Brandstetter followed with a blast off Gatesville (11-7-1) pitcher Gehrig Keeton over the left field fence, which provided the Lions all they offense they needed.
Gonzalez escaped a jam in the top of the first inning as he started off with a walk to Miles Tull and gave up a one-out single to Bralen Veazey, but a double play ball back to the mound with runners on the corners and one out ended the threat.
Then in the second inning, Jastin Muegge singled and Clayton Gregory reached on a dropped third strike consecutively to again put two runners on with one out. But Gonzalez fanned Logan Biggs and retired Keeton on a fly out to left field to keep the Hornet scoreless.
Gatesville did scratch a run across in the top of the third as Lawson Mooney walked with one out and scored on Veazey’s RBI double to left-center field. But pop outs by Justin Johnson and Muegge kept the Lions in front, 2-1.
The Lions pushed the lead back to two runs in the bottom of the third as Nickerson was hit by a pitch to start the frame, stole second base, and came home on Posey’s two-out RBI double down the left field line.
Gonzalez allowed just two base runners the rest of his time on the mound – a lead-off walk in the fourth by Gregory and a lead-off single in the sixth by Johnson. When Turner came on, he retired his two batters in succession.
Brownwood, which sits alone atop the District 6-4A standings, completes the first of three rounds of league play at 7 p.m. Friday when it welcomes Glen Rose (11-8, 0-3), which is coming off a 2-0 loss to No. 23 Stephenville (12-5-1, 2-1) Tuesday night.
“Glen Rose is a great team and this is a great district,” Sandford said. “We have to be prepared and we have to be ready. For us, we have to worry about ourselves and make the plays we’re supposed to make, the hits we’re supposed to make and the pitches we’re supposed to make. Then we’ll let everything else fall where it’s supposed to fall.”