Playing their second doubleheader against a Class 6A program at Morris Southall Field in three days, the Brownwood Lions were again denied victory, dropping a pair of contests to the Odessa High Bronchos 5-0 and 5-3 Saturday afternoon.
After being shutout in the opener, despite recording more hits than Odessa, the Lions twice rallied in the second game to draw even, but could not get over the hump though the Bronchos needed an extra inning to complete the sweep.
“It’s still a matter of being consistent defensively, and we played a lot better in the second game defensively,” said Lions head coach Blake Sandford. “I thought all of our pitchers pitched adequately enough to compete and keep us in the ball game for the most part. Then you just have to figure out how to score runs, and Odessa was pretty good defensively. We were hitting the ball, making contact, but again you have to be able to score runs and put the pressure on them more.”
In the second game, the contest was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning where Brownwood pitcher Logan Flores plunked Bryan Hernandez with the first pitch, then Martin Alva lifted a wind-aided two-run home run over the right field wall.
The Lions closed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth as Robbie Robinson reached on a lead-off error and courtesy-runner Julius Lara eventually scored on a two-out RBI bloop single down the right field line by Dario Rodriguez.
Brownwood then knotted the score at 2 in the bottom of the sixth as Robinson again reached on an Odessa miscue, this time with one out, and Jack Field followed with a ground-rule double to right-center field. Evan Escobar then dropped down an RBI bunt single that plated Lara with the tying.
Odessa reclaimed a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh as Diego Rodriguez led off with a triple down the right field line, then scored on Aiden Muniz’s RBI sacrifice fly.
Once more the Lions clawed their way back in the bottom of the seventh thanks to Wyatt Wolf being hit by a pitch, Antonio Ybarra drawing a walk, Austin Wright being beaned to fill the sacks, and Robinson earning an RBI bases-loaded walk.
“If you always have a sense of being able to keep playing and working and having a chance to win, you never know when the winning run is going to score,” Sandford said. “I really liked their fight and attitude today.”
Tied at 3-3 at the end of regulation, Odessa pushed the final two runs of the game across the plate in the top of the eighth on a one-out, two-RBI double down the third base line by Muniz, which plated Alva, who walked, and Sebastian Proano, who singled off reliever Austin Pittman.
Flores and Pittman combined to allow five runs on nine hits with five strikeouts, three walks and six base runners left stranded.
At the plate, Brownwood collected four hits – one each by Escobar, Rodriguez, Field and Michael Badillo.
In the opener, Odessa scored once in the fourth inning, twice in the fifth inning and two more times in the seventh.
Noah Gonzalez struck out nine and allowed three runs on four hits and three walks over five innings, while Daylyn Ansons yielded two runs on five walks in 1.2 innings of relief and Mason Millwee surrendered a hit and a walk before securing the final out. The Lions pitching staff left a total of 10 base runners stranded.
At the plate, Brownwood’s seven hits – two more than Odessa – included a pair from Robinson and one apiece from Lara, Escobar, Field, Wright and Gonzalez.
The Lions have dropped six of their last eight contests, but all the losses have come against Class 5A or 6A competition.
“We did this on purpose,” Sandford said. “We’re trying to play as big of a school and as quality of an opponent as we can to get ourselves ready for a pretty good district. That was the purpose of this stretch, to do that.”
Brownwood is back in action at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Gatesville, then hosts Abilene High at noon Saturday in its final action before the March 25 District 6-4A opener at Stephenville.