The Brenham Cubs translated its winning momentum from Friday into a tie and a win on Saturday at the Corpus Christi tournament.
Brenham opened its day by sharing the spoils with Hutto in a 8-8 tie, but ended it with a bang by defeating South San Antonio 8-6.
The Cubs (5-7-1) are unbeaten in their last four games over the course of the last two days.
Brenham let a 6-0 lead slowly evaporate after building its margin with a five-run third inning. Drake Bentke and Ethan Aschenbeck provided an RBI double and single to left field, respectively, to take the Cubs to a 3-0 lead. With the bases loaded later in the inning, second baseman Landry Mendoza hit a three-RBI double to left field to double the Cubs’ advantage.
Hutto scored two in the top of the fourth, but Brenham center fielder Ethan Aschenbeck hit his third home run of the season in the bottom half to push the Cub lead to 7-2.
After giving up a run in the fifth inning, Brenham got the first two Hippo batters of the sixth inning out before Hutto made its move to take an 8-7 lead.
A three-run home run following two walks put the Hippos within a run at 7-6. Three more walks followed to load the bases before a wild pitch from relief pitcher Kyle Curtis tied the game. He committed a balk later in the same at-bat to push Hutto to the lead.
Brenham first baseman Luke Hardy delivered a clutch RBI double with two away in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 8-all. A fly out to left field afterward, though, ended the inning and the game on the tournament time limit.
Aschenbeck and Bentke both went 3 for 4 at the plate to reach their season highs. Bentke recorded his second three-hit game while Aschenbeck recorded his first three-hit performance of the year.
Hardy went 2 for 4 at the plate while four more Cubs tallied one hit each.
Jaseton Bolcerek took a no-decision on the mound after pitching 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts. He allowed six hits, three runs and two walks.
Later in the day, Brenham defeated South San Antonio behind a six-run fourth inning. Jack Rogas tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single to drive in Hudson Hartstack before senior shortstop Dalton Hart gave the Cubs a 4-3 lead on a base hit to right field.
Bentke continued the Cubs’ big inning with a two-RBI triple into center field with two away. Hardy drove him in with a single into left field to give Brenham a 7-3 advantage. Hardy later scored for Brenham’s sixth run of the inning.
Five different Cubs — Hart, Bentke, Hardy, Rogas and Brooks Roznovsky — all tallied two hits. Bentke earned a season-high four RBIs while extending his hitting streak to five games.
Curtis bounced back from his late-game struggles against Hutto with a three-inning start against South San Antonio. He picked up the win on the mound despite giving up five hits, three walks and three runs with just two strikeouts.
Dawson Keim earned a save after stepping on the mound for the final out, which he picked up in the top of the sixth in three pitches.
Brenham will play its home opener at 6 p.m. on Monday against Friendswood at Fireman’s Park.