Burnet baseball’s incredible season ends
CAPTION: Burnet starting senior pitchers Dash Denton (left) and Kade Shaw are two reasons why the Bulldogs had a successful 2024 season. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Burnet High School baseball team lost to China Spring 4-3 May 17 to finish its 2024 season.
The Bulldogs (30-6, 13-2 District 24-4A champions) end the season with an appearance in the Class 4A regional quarterfinals for the first time in more than decade.
The Cougars (30-5, 9-1 District 23-4A champions) accomplished a task against Burnet no other opponent did – give the Bulldogs a two-game losing streak.
Still, Burnet didn’t go down without a fight.
Down 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning, Noah Crawford hit a double with one out to get into scoring position then went to third on a pass ball. But a foul tip was caught by the pitcher to give the Bulldogs their second out.
The game ended when the first baseman dove to get a ball that gets by any other opponent and results in a game-tying RBI. But not against the defending state champions.
“We had a chance to take the lead,” head coach Russell Houston said. “They made plays when they were supposed to.”
China Spring displayed its commitment to ending the series in two games by immediately plating two runs in the first inning.
But Burnet got a run back in the second thanks to a two-out RBI by Trenton Park then tied the contest in the third. With the bases loaded and one out, Khris Kassner and the Bulldogs executed a squeeze that resulted in two runs for a 3-2 advantage.
But the Cougars scored two in the fifth inning for the 4-3 lead.
Houston said he’ll remember this 2024 Burnet team as “one of the hardest working groups of young men” he’s been around.
“They’re a bunch of kids that accomplished something that hadn’t been done in a long time,” he said. “(The) 2010 (season) was the last playoff win. Their ability to do that for this program is huge. For these kids, it was well deserved. The amount of effort and work is satisfying. I know it paid off.”
Senior Dash Denton is the district’s Pitcher of the Year, while Trey Morrow is the Offensive Most Valuable Player and Houston is the Coach of the Year.
Kade Shaw, Will Johnson, Park and Crawford were voted first team all-district, while Colt Stanford and Gilbert Valdez are on the second team.
Honorable mention went to Cason O’Hair, Alex Cantrill and Kassner.
“They had big goals to win district and get past round one,” Houston said. “We ended up right about where we could be (in the playoffs). I don’t consider it a shock for us to win two rounds. I think they believed that’s what they could do. If the ball bounced differently, we got to a game three. And who knows. China Spring is good. We were one or two hits away from where we wanted to be.”
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