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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER – The Briarwood Christian Lions took on a gauntlet at the Buccaneer Classic with two Class 7A teams and a pair of Tennessee-based sides on the schedule, and they survived the week with a 3-1 record to get back to .500 on the year.

Briarwood outlasted the Tuscaloosa County Wildcats 9-7 on Wednesday, March 26, beat the Smiths Station Panthers 8-2 on Thursday, March 27 and emerged from a 14-13 eight-inning thriller with the Houston Mustangs on Saturday, March 29 at the Hoover Met Complex.

A 6-3 loss to the Rossview Hawks on Friday, March 28 was their lone blemish of the week as the Lions will head back into area play with a 12-12 record.

After losing 6-0 to Leeds on Saturday, March 22, Briarwood faced off against one of the 10 best teams in all of Class 7A in Tuscaloosa County to start the tournament.

The Lions started the game with a pair of singles and got both runners home off an error to take a 2-0 lead.

They continued to build on their lead through the opening innings of the game, scoring off an RBI ground out in the top of the third before an error and a Will Clark two-run single in the top of the fourth made the lead 6-0.

However, back-to-back RBI singles from the Wildcats in the bottom of the fourth spelled the beginning of a comeback as they cut the deficit to 6-2.

Briarwood got the benefit of a trio of free base runners to start the top of the with as two batters were hit by a pitch and John Paul Harbor drew a walk on a full count. From there, Parker Sfakianos took another walk to score a run.

That was the first of three-straight scoring plays as the Lions began getting hard contact with the ball and capitalizing. Seth Staggs hit into a sacrifice fly for another run ahead of a Parker Daniels RBI single that made the lead 9-2.

Tuscaloosa County made its move in the bottom of the fifth with one out. Back-to-back doubles sparked a rally and cut the deficit to 9-3 ahead of a walk to put runners on the corners.

The Lions then made a pitching change but immediately gave up four more runs on three-straight hits as the Wildcats made it a 9-7 game.

However, JD Splawn and Staggs got outs on two of the next three batters before Robbie Paulsen came in and allowed just one hit over the final two innings to seal the win.

Clark finished with four RBI in a 1-for-5 performance while Daniels went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.

The next day against Smiths Station, Briarwood had a much easier time securing the victory.

After the first two batters of the game reached off a walk and a single, Houston Hartsfield plated the opening run with a sacrifice fly. Clark followed that up with an RBI double to double up the lead.

While the Panthers cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first, the Lions’ bats went back to work in the top of the third. Daniels and Hartsfield reached off hits to start the inning ahead of a Clark sacrifice fly, which recaptured the two-run lead, and an error that made it a 4-1 game.

Briarwood made the lead 5-1 two innings later, turning a lead-off walk into a two-out RBI single from Paulsen.

A pair of walks and a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth set up Smiths Station to get back on the board with a sacrifice fly, but the 6-2 deficit was as close as it would get to the lead down the stretch.

The Panthers had control issues in the top of the seventh as they hit three batters, the last of which allowed a run to score with the bases loaded. Sfakianos followed that up with an RBI single on the next pitch to finish the 8-2 win.

Hartsfield finished 2-for-2 with a walk, three runs and an RBI, Daniels went 2-for-4 with two runs and Clark and Sfakianos each finished with two RBI in the win.

Hartsfield also took the win on the mound, striking out nine batters across the first six innings of the game while working around two total runs, one of which being earned, three hits and three walks.

The next day though, Briarwood hit a speed bump in the form of a 6-3 loss to Rossview. The Hawks took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, extending their lead to 4-0 before Briarwood scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth during a double play and an error.

However, a walk and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth gave the Hawks a 6-2 lead before they secured the 6-3 win.

The Lions then engaged in a high-scoring battle with Houston that saw both teams combine for 27 runs.

Houston struck first with two runs in the first and four in the bottom of the third to take a 6-0 lead, but Briarwood began to make its way back in the top of the fifth.

With one on and two out, Jamison Barnes and Brayden Robertson hit back-to-back RBI singles to cut the deficit to 6-2.

A two-run double increased the Mustangs lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the inning, but control issues in the top of the sixth spelled doom for the Tennessee side.

Hartsfield followed up back-to-back one-out walks with a single to load up the bases, and each of the next four batters reached freely, three when they were struck with pitches and one off a walk. Each of those three hit batsmen led to runs, and a run came to the plate off a wild pitch during that sequence as well.

Now facing their third pitcher of the inning, Briarwood tied up the game at 7-7 on a Paulsen sacrifice fly to tie up the game going into the seventh.

From there, the Lions continued their rally, loading up the bases off two walks and a single to start the inning. A sacrifice fly from Daniels gave Briarwood its first lead of the game, and two batters later, Ivan Hand secured a two-run double as a pinch hitter to make the lead 10-7.

However, Houston scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 10-10, first off a sacrifice fly and RBI single on back-to-back at-bats before a bases-loaded walk later in the inning sent the teams to extras.

Briarwood immediately got Sfakianos and Staggs aboard to start the top of the eighth and plated both runners thanks to a two-run double from Daniels with one out. Facing two outs two batters later, Hand took the lead to 13-10 with an RBI double, and Paulsen finished the rally shortly after with an RBI single for the 14-10 advantage.

The Mustangs loaded up the bases with a walk and two singles in the bottom half of the inning and scored on three-straight plays–a walk, fielder’s choice and single–to make it a one-run game. The Lions ended the scoring threat and forced a ground out to seal the 14-13 win.

Hand finished with four RBI and a run off a 2-for-4 game, Daniels had three RBI and a run while going 2-for-2, Paulsen went 2-for-5 with two RBI and Barnes took two RBI and two runs off the bench in a 1-for-2 showing. Staggs went 3-for-5 with a walk and four runs, and Clark finished 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Briarwood will resume area play on Tuesday, April 1 with a short road trip to Columbiana to face the Shelby County Wildcats at 4:30 p.m. Game two of the series will be Thursday, April 3 at 4:30 p.m. at Briarwood Christian School.