The District 6-4A champion Brownwood Lions have shined brightest in the closest of contests, and that trend continued in Friday night’s regular season finale. The Lions improved to 12-1 on the season in one-run outings as they completed a three-game sweep of the league rival Glen Rose Tigers, 2-1, in eight innings at Morris Southall Field on Senior Night.

“These guys are not afraid of winning close ball games,” said Lions head coach Blake Sandford. “It’s all on the kids, they have done this. They’ve adapted this mentality that we’re going to be tough and we’re not going to panic when things just don’t go absolutely our way. We’re going to play seven innings and you never know what’s going to happen. With the pitching staff that we have, plus we’re playing really good defense, we know we’re going to get some runners on and win it at the end. That’s our mentality and we don’t ever feel like we can’t win at the end.”

The Lions (22-6-1, 11-1), who captured their first district championship since 2019, missed an opportunity to collect a walk-off victory in the bottom of the seventh inning, but made the most of a second chance in the eighth.

Tied at 1 in the bottom of the eight against Glen Rose reliever Jackson Thompson, Eli Hill drew a walk to start the frame, but pinch-runner Ike Hall was thrown out trying to steal second base. With one down, Jack Field reached one of the Tigers’ six errors. With two outs, Austin Wright prolonged the inning by reaching on an error at the shortstop position, which brought No. 9 batter Antonio Ybarra to plate.

One of the most clutch performers of the season, the Lions’ shortstop singled sharply over the glove of a leaping Glen Rose third baseman, and Field, from second base, beat the throw to the plate for the 2-1 triumph.

“He’s a clutch, ice in the veins type of kid,” Sandford said of Ybarra. “He doesn’t get too high on the highs or too low on the lows. He gets after, he’s always a yes sir guy and a team guy. There were some tough situations we were in tonight and he just comes up big.”

On the mound, Gavin Brandstetter and Noah Gonzalez teamed up to toss a no-hitter as Brandstetter worked the first four innings and allowed an unearned run with six strikeouts and five walks. Gonzalez hurled the final four frames and collected the win, striking out nine and walking a pair.

“They’ve done this all year,” Sandford said of the stellar pitching. “They’ve done a good job of being really competitive. We wanted to take care of Gavin’s arm because he’s pitched a lot. I’m always sensitive to these youngsters’ arms and want to make sure we’re doing right by them as best as we can. But all three of our main guys, Gavin, Noah and Yovani (Figueroa), are really, really good at what they do.”

Through seven innings, the Lions managed just one run on four hits against Glen Rose ace Cullen Kickhoefer, who struck out 10 and walked three.

Brownwood scored its first run in the second inning as Hill reached on an error and advanced to second base on the play. Hill later moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI fielder’s choice by Austin Pittman.

Glen Rose tied the score at 1 in the top of the fourth as Gastin McGarity walked with one out, stole second base and moved to third on a ground out. With two down, McGarity was able to score on a passed ball, the only run allowed by the Lions all night.

Still even at 1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Wright reached on a bunt and an error to start the frame for Brownwood, then moved to second base on Ybarra’s sacrifice bunt. Jordyn Nickerson followed with a flare down the right field line, but Wright – who got a delayed jump from second base – ended up being thrown out at the plate. David Turner reached on another miscue and Brandstetter was intentionally walked to load the sacks with two outs, but the Lions were unable to push across the winning run at that point.

The Lions will open the postseason against District 5-4A fourth seed Levelland (14-14-1, 5-5), which defeated Lubbock Estacado, 7-6, Friday night to squeeze into the playoffs. No information on the bi-district matchup had been finalized Friday night.

Behind the Lions, Stephenville (19-10-1, 7-5) will head to the playoffs as the second seed out of District 6-4A, while Mineral Wells is third and Glen Rose will be fourth. Glen Rose (17-15, 4-8), Mineral Wells (7-15-1, 4-8), and Graham (11-14 4-8) all finished tied for third place in the final 6-4A standings, but Graham lost all four games to Glen Rose and Mineral Wells, while Glen Rose lost two of three to Mineral Wells.