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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

LINEVILLE – The Briarwood Christian Lions are heading to the 2025 Class 5A baseball playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Class 5A, Area 8 as they continued their torrid pace through area play with a tight win on the road.

Briarwood defeated the Central Volunteers of Clay County 5-3 on Tuesday, April 8 at Central High School in Lineville. The win moved the Lions to 5-0 in area play and assured them of an area championship ahead of Thursday’s game two of the final series.

Briarwood wasted little time in the top of the first as a Seth Staggs lead-off walk and a Houston Hartsfield single set up an RBI single from Parker Daniels on the third at-bat of the game. That gave the Lions a 1-0 lead before suffering three outs on the next two plays.

Briarwood then rallied in the top of the second as Ivan Hand’s one out single gave way to a walk and an error to load up the bases. Staggs then plated two runs with an RBI single to make the lead 3-0.

However, Central started making its way back in the bottom of the third. After getting a lead-off double, an error in the infield two batters later let the runner come home and cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Lions got a pair of one-out singles in the top of the fourth before Parker Williamson came home on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 4-1.

The Vols got a pair of runners on in the bottom of the fourth with one out thanks to a single and a walk. While Briarwood got the second out, Central sent an RBI single to right field to make it a two-run game. However, an error after the throw to home plate made the score 4-3.

That put Briarwood under threat, especially after a scoreless fifth.

Things began to change though when Staggs hit a one-out single. He stole second on the next at-bat before Hartsfield flew out to right. The Vols tried to throw back to second to get Staggs, but an error allowed him to come all the way home for an insurance run.

Briarwood then slammed the door shut when Parker Sfakianos came in and didn’t allow any runs in the sixth or seventh on the road to victory. He gave up just one hit and no walks.

Staggs finished 3-for-3 with a walk, two RBI and two runs, Daniels was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Hans was 2-for-3 on the day.

Hand struck out five batters in five innings, allowing just one earned run while working around three total runs, three hits and a walk.

The Lions will finish out the area series on Thursday, April 10 at 4:30 p.m. at Briarwood Christian School.