By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – After almost a week away from the diamond, the Briarwood baseball Lions played three games in two days from March 25-26, losing to Tuscaloosa County 1-0 on Friday before splitting a pair of games with Southside High School on Saturday to move to 16-6.

 

Game 1. Tuscaloosa County 1 – Briarwood 0

Logan Whittlesey took the mound to start the game for Briarwood against Tuscaloosa County on Friday night and threw five innings, giving up six hits and a single run in the fifth inning while striking out three. The one run that Tuscaloosa County was able to slap across the plate was enough to get the win however, as Jason Cox threw 124 pitches over seven complete innings while giving up five hits and no runs. This was the first time all season Briarwood has been shut out. Five different Lions connected for one hit on the day, but none were able to get home as Briarwood lost.

 

Game 2. Briarwood 3 – Southside 2

Southside High School took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader. Ben Metzger hit into a fielder’s choice in the top of the fifth, scoring Luis Fuentes to tie the game, but another run for Southside in the bottom of the fifth made the tie game short lived. In the top of the sixth however, Jake Morris and Sam Strickland both singled to start the inning. Kolby Kwarcinski later hit a sac fly, scoring Morris and bringing the score back to 2-2. Will Baumbaugh later singled to center in the inning, which scored Will Shepherd from third and giving the Lions a 3-2 lead, which they held on to for the win.

Strickland threw six innings for Briarwood, throwing 87 pitches and giving up three runs and two hits in the process before Trey Mitchell came in in the seventh to get the save.

 

Game 3. Southside 3 – Briarwood 1

Cole Steadman scored on a balk in the top of the fourth for Briarwood in the final game of the weekend, but that was the only run the Lions scored in the game, as they fell 3-1 to Southside to split the series. Southside scored two runs in the bottom of the third and added an insurance run in the sixth to get the 3-1 win.

Morris, Michael Hiers and Hudson Hartsfield all saw time on the mound in the final game in the losing effort.