Marble Falls baseball sweeps Gateway
CAPTION: Marble Falls batter Owen Nash sends this pitch to the left field corner for a RBI triple against Georgetown Gateway. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School baseball team beat Georgetown Gateway 4-2 March 20 to complete the series sweep in District 24-4A play.
The start puts the Mustangs (4-0) in the district lead with Salado, which swept Burnet. Lampasas (3-0) is third.
“If (the start is a big deal), it’s just for what happens in the locker room and the confidence and the mindset,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “I think it really helps our kids believe in themselves when they see the results and for so many years, my first few years here — the first five years in district — we had great kids who are playing good baseball. But you didn’t see the results. By the end (last) year we were playing better, but they didn’t get to see the results.”
Marble Falls led the Gators (0-4) the from the start.
After junior pitcher Canon Cochran forced the Gators to go three up, three down, he led off with a single to right field. A throwing error allowed sophomore John Alan Whittle to reach first. Freshman Crawford Mattox drew a walk to load the bases. Sophomore Owen Nash drew a walk to score Cochran. But Gateway threw to home plate for the first out, struck out a Mustang, and ended the scoring threat on a ground ball to third base, forcing Marble Falls to strand three runners.
Meanwhile the Gators tied the contest in the second inning when the runner, who drew a walk, scored an unearned run on a pass ball.
That 1-1 score stood until the bottom of the third inning. Mattox singled to right field, stole second and went to third on a pass ball. Nash hit a RBI triple to the left field corner, with the ball bouncing just fair inside the line. He went home on a RBI single to right field by junior Atreyu Machacek. Freshman Braxton Dicken singled to center field, and freshman Ben Sowers reached on a fielding error, allowing Machacek to score for the 4-1 advantage. The Mustangs stranded two runners.
The Gators scored in the fifth inning on a RBI single to center field to trim the deficit 4-2.
Cochran (2-0) got the win by allowing 1 earned run off 3 hits. Mattox (1) got the save. He faced seven total batters, striking out three, and forcing two ground balls and a flyout. One batter reached on an error.
“Canon did a great job again,” Porter said. “He fills it up, had a couple of walks, maybe hit (a Gator) by (a) pitch, which was more miscommunication, which isn’t like him. But he did a good job getting ahead and getting guys out in the dangerous part of the lineup, which was good. And that’s all we ask of him and John Alan (the other starting pitcher). If you give us five innings, we have some competent arms coming behind them. They’re competitors and they’re leaders and showed that again.”
He also was happy with Mattox’s performance.
“In these last two relief appearances for his first really high leverage spots, he’s come in and is just unreal,” the coach said.
Gateway pitcher Evan Norton was credited with the loss. He allowed 3 earned runs on 8 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.
Nash had 2 RBI and a hit, while Cochran and Dicken each had 2 hits.
Porter noted the Mustangs didn’t play mistake-free baseball, pointing out base-running errors on top of defensive errors. Still, he believes one big reason they overcame them is because of the “so what? next pitch” mentality the program is using this year. One example was when Cochran and Crawford switched spots on the field and Cochran bobbled the ground ball hit to him at third to start the seventh inning. But Cochran recovered in time to throw to first for the lead-off out.
The coach called that play “huge.”
“If you let that carryover, then that’s when you hurt the team,” he said. “He didn’t field it cleanly. A lot of kids will put their head down and go slow motion. Not him. He throws it across and gets the out, and that changes the ending.”
While Porter is happy to start district with four wins, he cautioned that the task isn’t finished.
“They’re busting their butts, they’re making some mistakes. But they can see the result, and that they’re at the top of the standings at the moment,” he said. “And now again, if we lose the next eight, no one cares that we’re 4-0, right? So it’s a long-term (goal). The phrase, what we’re talking about is, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So our next bite is a long one, and we get some time off. You can win one at a time, you might do that eight times. That’s the only way we can look at it.”
Marble Falls will use its district bye by hosting two non-district opponents. First up is Austin Akins Tuesday, March 25, and Johnson City, the No. 1 ranked team in Class 2A by the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association, Friday, March 28. The Eagles feature senior pitcher Johnny Slawinski, who signed to play for Texas A&M and is believed to be a 2025 Major League Baseball draft pick.
Both games begin at 7 p.m.
“Our schedule sets up really well,” Porter said. “Now we have two non-district games to get healthy and we’ll get to play Salado (April 1 and 4). With the way the schedule sets up, we got a chance to get our ducks in a row. ”
CAPTION: Marble Falls freshman Braxton Dicken safely slides into second base as the Georgetown Gateway infielders look for the ball. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
