Marble Falls baseball forces game three, loses series to Gatesville
CAPTION: The Mustangs comfort each other after a doubleheader against Gatesville that ended their season. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
A wild 48 hours ended with the Marble Falls High School baseball team losing to Gatesville 8-3 May 6 in game three of a bi-district series.
The series began May 4 in the first game at Gatesville where the Mustangs committed more errors (6) than they scored runs (3). But lightning didn’t allow them to finish the game that night. So they returned to Gatesville the next afternoon to play four outs of baseball to lose 9-3 before hoping back on the bus to return to Marble Falls for game two.
Because of lightning and the hail storm that followed, that game was moved to Saturday afternoon.
So the Mustangs played 14 innings of baseball in all May 6 that was in the 90-degree heat. They won game two 6-1.
In the third inning, Evan Nickowski hit a double to right field and later scored on a double steal after going to third on a bunt by Jake Carter. Carter went to third on a fly ball by Isaias Roman and later scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 advantage.
The Mustangs added more runs in the fifth. Carter was hit by a pitch and went to first then moved to second on a single by Cale Cochran, to third on a single by Roman, and home on a RBI single by Bryce Atkinson. Canon Cochran hit a RBI single to left field, while Davis Dreisbach and A.J. Scovil each added RBI singles to center field for the 6-0 lead.
The Hornets scored their only run in the sixth inning.
Senior pitcher Atkinson (1-0 in the postseason) threw all seven innings.
In the third game, Nickowski started the Mustangs off with a stand-up double to center field, went to third on a single to left field by Carter, and scored on a sacrifice flyball by Cale Cochran. Carter scored on a pass ball.
The Mustangs scored their last run in the second inning when Brady Elwartowski went home on a wild pitch after he reached first on a walk.
By then the Hornets had changed pitchers. Their reliever threw 4 2/3 innings before handing the ball to ace pitcher Bralen Veazey in the seventh inning to finish the job.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs used four pitchers, and Gatesville scored two runs in the second, third, four and sixth innings for the 8-3 win.
“I felt after that game, no one was satisfied,” Mustangs head coach Tyler Porter said. “They were disappointed and very heartbroken. It was just one of those weird weekends. I thought we’d give up some, but we’ve scored six runs in an inning.”
He summarized game one quickly.
“Their kid (Veazey) was good, and we did not play our best defense,” the coach said.
Porter spent much of the rest of the weekend reflecting on a conversation he had with Marble Falls High School boys basketball head coach Travis Crain, who guided the Mustangs to a share of the District 24-4A title in February. Porter did the same for his Mustangs in April.
Porter spoke with Crain the morning after the Mustangs lost to China Spring in bi-district championship that ended their season.
“In a week, in a month and in a year, you’ll look back on how well your kids did,” he recalled saying, adding the ending won’t take away from the great accomplishments of the season.
The baseball team’s biggest accomplishment can be read on the outfield wall in left field where one part had the 2023 district champions already painted on it. Porter chuckled when asked about the swiftness of the panel considering the regular season ended two weeks earlier.
“The main reason is because our booster rep makes signs for a living,” he said. “Our alumni can come back and see, too. It’s a tangible visual for our seniors. It’s something they can touch. They left a mark by winning 20 games. These six kids are important. It re-establishes a winning culture. It’s four years of hard work. Winning district was important because it hasn’t been done in a while.”
He noted that two or three former Mustangs left the program to finish their high school eligibility elsewhere. And he commended the players who stayed and wanted to be here and believed they could be champions.
“They’re Division I kids who moved out of here,” he said. “This whole group stuck around. We’re good because these kids didn’t run away.”
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