Steers baseball hands Brownwood first district loss in close battle

An opportunity to take down a team with a perfect district record doesn’t happen very often, so the Graham Steers took full advantage when they defeated the Brownwood Lions 2-1.

Brownwood came into the game Tuesday, April 2 with a perfect 6-0 record in district play, having already beaten the Steers earlier this season.

Graham held a 3-3 district record but made all the right plays necessary to topple the first-place Lions.

Graham had the right combination of strong pitching and a timely big hit to drive in their runs to take down Brownwood. The Steers now sit at 11-9 overall with a 4-3 district record, while the Lions are 13-4 overall and 6-1 in district.

“It wasn’t clean by any means, but the kids kept picking each other up,” said head coach Allen McGee about his team’s performance in the game. “We’d have an error, next guy we’d turn a double play. ...But just in the dugout, they never got down, they kept picking each other up and that’s a good baseball team right there.”

The last time these two teams met was also a low-scoring affair as Brownwood earned a 3-0 win. Both teams, once again, had strong pitchers on the mound that kept this game close the entire time.

Junior Ryder Taylor started for Graham and went 5 1/3 innings, only allowed one hit, one unearned run and struck out six Lions. Fellow junior Harison Brockway relieved Taylor and finished off the final 1 2/3 innings in which he only gave up one hit and shut Brownwood down to secure the win for the team.

“Ryder, even if he doesn’t have his A game he’s going to give you his best. He’s going to give you what he’s got that day and he competed his tail off,” McGee said. “H (Harison), he’s steady Eddie. He’s going to come in and fill it up. I love him in that situation, he’s cool as a cucumber and just fills up strikes.”

Graham put together competitive at bats all game and things finally paid off in the third inning. Sophomore Tripp Mahaney led off with a huge double over the center fielder’s head that went to the wall. A couple batters later, Taylor got hit by a pitch to set up runners on first and second.

With two outs, senior Tate Loesch crushed a long fly ball to the gap in right center field which allowed both runners to score and ended with Loesch on third base for a triple. The big hit was the difference maker in the game as the Steers went up 2-0.

“We wouldn’t get a guy in and then we’d get a big hit; that big hit by Tate to drive in two right there, that was huge,” McGee said.

Brownwood’s lone run came in the sixth inning as Taylor struggled with control and walked two batters. The next batter hit a hard ground ball to shortstop Bruin Wright, who flipped it to Loesch at second base, but he mishandled it and allowed all runners to reach safely to load the bases.

The Lions scored on a suicide squeeze bunt to cut into the deficit and make it 2-1, but Brockway retired the next batter on a flyout to left field to stop the damage.

In the final inning, the Steers won the game with their defense. Brownwood’s first batter reached on a single. The next hitter bunted, which Brockway fielded and turned and threw high to second base to get the lead runner. Loesch had to stretch high in the air but kept his foot on the bag to secure the out.

The next two hitters were retired on running catches by corner outfielders Luke McCain and Ty Thompson and Graham celebrated the huge victory.

Loesch finished the game 2-for-2 with two RBIs, Mahaney went 2-for-3 with a run scored and Thompson had the team’s other hit as he ended 1-for-3 at the plate.

After traveling to Brownwood for another matchup Friday, April 5, the Steers will hit the road again Tuesday, April 9 to take on Glen Rose.