Published: March 25, 2008 11:38 pm      

Hornets lose to Brenham 12-8

Despite scoring four runs in the first inning, the Huntsville Hornets couldn’t keep up with Brenham as they lost a 12-8 decision to the Cubs Tuesday in District 18-4A action at Fireman’s Park.

Gustavo Arana led the Hornets (3-1 in district, 11-9 overall) at the plate by going 4-for-4, while Justin Davis’ double in the top of the first preceded several singles to get the scoring started.

Davis pitched four innings and picked up the loss, while Cole Sullivan pitched the final two.

The two teams were tied at 4 after the first when Huntsville pushed home two runs in the second to take a 6-4 lead.

“We were still ahead 6-5 after the second inning but the rest of the game was just a see-saw battle,” Huntsville coach Shelby Shaw said. “Our guys played hard but we just made too many mistakes, both in the field and by not making the pitches we needed to make.”

Brenham (5-0 in district, 16-4), the state’s No. 6 team, led 8-7 going into the bottom of the sixth but exploded for four runs to stretch their lead to 12-7.

A solo home run by Shaquille Ross gave the Hornets a run back as they cut the deficit to 12-8, but after getting a couple of runners on base in the final inning, the Hornet rally ceased and the three-game winning streak was snapped.

The Hornets will continue district play when they host defending Class 4A Region III champion Montgomery on Friday at Kate Barr Ross Park.

“They (Brenham) still have to come to Huntsville and we’ll be ready for them the next time,” Shaw said. “It feels good to be playing (Montgomery) at our own park Friday. We’re not panicking after the loss. We still have a lot of baseball left to play.”