Marble Falls baseball beats Georgetown Gateway
CAPTION: Sophomore pitcher John Alan Whittle kept Georgetown Gateway guessing as he struck out 10 in leading the Mustangs to another win. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School baseball team defeated Georgetown Gateway 7-1 March 18 to go to 3-0 in District 24-4A play.
Sophomore pitcher John Alan Whittle (2-0) earned the win by striking out 10 batters while allowing 1 run on 6 hits in six innings. Freshman Crawford Mattox took over in the seventh inning and struck out a batter.
In two key ways, Whittle reminds head coach Tyler Porter of Cale Cochran and Bryce Atkinson. The two were the starting pitchers who led the 2023 team to the District 24-4A title, the program’s first in two decades.
“What he has in common is that he wants the ball and he wants to be the guy in that situation,” Porter said. “Some kids shrink away from that moment and some kind of relish it. (Whittle) is not a selfish guy. He’s a guy who wants the ball in his hand, which is a really good quality. And Cale and Bryce were both very similar. I’m calling pitches this year. I’ve given (my pitchers) the chance to shake me off if they want. And typically what you see out of a lot of high school kids is if you give a little bit of latitude, if they want to throw a (specific pitch), they want to shake it off to show how good their curveball is or their changeup is or their slider. And John Alan is great because he’s the other way. He just wants to throw fastballs. He says, ‘Hey, man, this is my fastball. Try and hit it.’ He’s hard. He doesn’t think he’s dominating. You know, if he throws a good fastball, even if they put it in play, he’s got eight guys behind him that can do something. So having a kid, a sophomore, who has the maturity to just say, ‘Hey, man, let’s go right at him,’ that’s a very good characteristic for him.”
Porter emphasized that fielding a solid defense is non-negotiable.
“It’s huge,” he said. “I think some of that credit goes all the way around. I’m not just trying to praise John Alan too much. But the fact that he works fast and he throws strikes keeps the defense engaged. You’ve been to games where it’s a walk or a guy that works really slow. And sometimes right or wrong, your defenders kind of just lose focus. So having a guy that gets up there on the mound and throws strikes repeatedly, those defenders stay engaged, and then they dominate those routine plays.”
The Mustangs (3-0) got on the scoreboard in the second inning on a groundout by junior Atreus Machacek for the 1-0 lead.
Marble Falls added two runs in the third inning when Whittle drew a walk and sophomore Owen Nash grounded out to score the runs.
Whittle was 2 for 3 at the plate and recorded 3 runs batted in. He and Machacek each had 3 hits, while freshman Cade Briseno drew three walks. Sophomore Grant Carter, Machacek, Briseno and Nash stole numerous bases.
“We’ve been able to put some runs up,” Porter said. “And when you put those runs up early, the phrase we use is chasing. There’s 21 outs in a game. So, if you’re up 6-0 in the third, we’re not worried about run prevention. We keep scoring. We’re worried about chasing outs. And that takes some pressure off the defense because now all they need to do is make the routine play. And I think our pitchers and our offense takes pressure off our defense.”
Gateway pitcher Aiden Rogers allowed 3 earned runs off 5 hits and 5 walks with 7 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
The two teams will play at Marble Falls High’s Scearce Field at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 20.
