Marble Falls baseball escapes Burnet with win
CAPTION: Crawford Mattox slides into second base to safely steal and get one base closer to scoring. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School baseball team defeated Burnet 7-6 March 14 to complete the two-game District 24-4A series.
“It showed that same stuff a different way to win,” Mustangs head coach Tyler Porter said. “It wasn’t constant hits like (during the March 14 win), which we found a way to grind some out timely hitting and stealing bases.”
Burnet (0-2) got the scoring going early. Alex Cantrill drew a walk and stole second. He came home on a RBI single to center-right field by Matthew Valdez.
They added two more in the second. Cooper Alexander led off with a single to right field, while Cohen Jorpleland drew a walk. Alexander scored on a wild pitch and Jorpleland went home on an error for a 3-1 lead.
The Mustangs (2-0) responded in the third inning. Freshman Cade Briseno drew a walk to start the inning. A throwing error on a bunt allowed junior Canon Cochran to get on first base. Sophomore John Alan Whittle beat a throw to first base by sliding head first, which brought Briseno home. Sophomore Owen Nash, who was hit by a pitch, Cochran and Whittle kept stealing bases and scored when the opportunities came. Nash scored on a wild pitch for a 4-3 lead.
Burnet promptly tied the game in its half of the inning thanks to a fielding error that allowed Valdez to score after he reached on a single to center field. The run came after two outs thanks to a double play where shortstop Whittle caught the ground ball, touched second and fired to first.
Marble Falls regained the lead in the fifth inning. Whittle led off with a single to left field, stole second and later scored on a wild pitch for a 5-4 advantage.
The Mustangs added two more runs in the seventh inning thanks to the top of the order. Cochran reached on a throwing error to first, while Whittle laid down a bunt for an infield single. Freshman Crawford Mattox hit a RBI single to center field, while Nash had an RBI on a 4-3 out for a 7-4 advantage.
Cantrill drew a walk to begin the seventh inning. After two outs, Drake Milam drew a walk. Alexander hit a triple to deep center field to score Cantrill and Milam. At that point, Porter called a timeout to talk to his pitcher, catcher and infielders.
The next batter hit into a 4-3 out to end the contest.
Pitcher Cochran (1-0) picked up the win. He allowed 3 earned runs off 7 hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts. Junior reliever Atreus Machacek (1) earned the save. He faced a total of 10 batters and struck out one.
Alexander had 2 RBI off 2 hits, while Valdez had 1 RBI off 2 hits.
Porter noted that “Canon pitched as well as Whittle” did during the March 14 win.
And he was pleased to see his players end the game right after the triple happened.
“(The outfielder) was picked up by his teammates,” the Mustangs skipper said.
The Mustangs scored 7 runs off 6 hits and 2 runs were earned. Whittle, Mattox, Nash and Layton each had a RBI. Whittle had 3 hits, while Mattox had 2 and Layton finished with 1.
“Our kids are learning to have the next-pitch mentality,” Porter said.
Cooper Faris (0-1) was credited with the loss. He allowed 3 hits that resulted in 4 runs, 3 unearned with 4 strikeouts and 5 free bases in 5 1/3 innings.
For Burnet, the outcome was frustrating. The Bulldogs stranded a total of seven runners to the Mustangs’ five. But four Bulldogs were left at third base, including the game-tying run.
“I’m frustrated, yeah, but that’s baseball,” head coach Russell Houston said. “We made three throwing errors. We made two base-running errors.”
He noted the Bulldogs made a bunting error that cost them a chance at stealing a base.
“It’s just things little things,” Houston added. “If you don’t take care of the little things, would you just give it to me? Everybody’s good in our district. You’re facing everybody’s No. 1 and No. 2. So hitting just becomes more difficult in district.
“Baseball is a humbling game,” he added. “It’s a game that you can do 30 percent of the time excellent and get paid millions of dollars. So it’s a game of failure. We have to be able to rise above those failures and just play clean baseball. I think we tried to press a little bit too much. It’s part of growing up as some of the young kids are figuring it out and the older kids feel sometimes that they have to do too much instead of just playing.”
Burnet welcomes Salado Tuesday, March 18, and travels to face the Eagles Thursday, March 20. Both games begin at 2 p.m.
Marble Falls lost to Georgetown High 13-3 March 15 in a non-district game.
The Mustangs travel to Georgetown Gateway for a 5 p.m. game Tuesday, March 18, and welcome the Gators at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 20.
CAPTION: Canon Cochran delivers a key district win and completes the sweep against the Burnet Bulldogs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
