By Clay Whittington
The Belton Journal
The whirlwind start to the baseball season continues this weekend as the Broncos and Tigers are each set to take part in three-day tournaments starting today.
On the heels of a 2-3 showing at last week’s Pflugerville ISD tournament to open its schedule, Lake Belton will travel to compete in the Round Rock ISD tournament, where it will play five more games.
The event will take place at four of the district’s campuses with the Broncos facing Round Rock Stony Point today at 1 p.m. followed by a contest versus Cedar Park Vista Ridge at 4 p.m. Both games will be played at Stony Point High School.
Then, on Friday, Lake Belton starts its day at Round Rock High School, where it will play the host Dragons at noon before relocating to Round Rock McNeil High School for a 6 p.m. first pitch against the host Mavericks.
The Broncos conclude their stay Saturday at Round Rock Westwood High School, playing the host Warriors at 1 p.m.
Lake Belton enters the tournament with momentum despite losing its first three games of the season.
At Pflugerville, the Broncos were defeated by Austin Lake Travis 3-2, Westwood 5-3 and Austin Bowie 11-1, but they bounced back with a 4-0 victory against Fort Worth Arlington Heights and a 4-2 win against Kyle Lehman.
Along the way, Clint Beck accounted for a team-high seven hits, while teammates Bryce Davis and Peanut Brazzle had six and five hits, respectively.
Defensively, Matthew Stanford was responsible for six shutout innings on the mound against Arlington Heights with Brandon Holley throwing four shutout innings against Westwood to match Jerryn Pettijohn’s showing against Lehman.
While Lake Belton is in Round Rock, the Tigers are bound for the Austin ISD tournament.
Belton opens play today at Nelson Field, where it will face Austin Navarro at noon and Lockhart at 5 p.m. followed by two more games against Austin Northeast (9:30 a.m.) and Austin McCallum (noon) on Saturday. Both will take place at Del Valle High School.
A single game against Austin LASA at noon Saturday completes the schedule.
Belton produced a 1-4 record during its opening weekend at Pflugerville.
After suffering through four consecutive losses, falling to Lehman 5-3, Buda Hays 5-0, Leander Glenn 8-4 and Austin Anderson 9-2, the Tigers punctuated the three-day event by shutting out Pflugerville 10-0.
In the victory, Sebastian Davila was 3 for 3 at the plate with four RBIs, while teammate Gage Flores scored twice to go with a pair of RBIs. Additionally, Rayshaun Peoples and Cole Haisler each hit a double.
Brett Shadrick earned the pitching victory, allowing four hits and striking out three batters.
