Burnet baseball beats Gateway for sweep
CAPTION: Senior shortstop Noah Crawford tosses the ball to second baseman Macke Calhoun during the game one win. Photos by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School baseball team defeated Georgetown Gateway 8-1 April 25 to finish tied for third in District 24-4A play.
The Bulldogs (17-7, 7-5) will face Lorena in a bi-district best-of-three series in Hutton in the Class 4A Division II playoffs. Game one is Thursday, May 1, with Burnet as the visiting team. Game two is Friday, May 2, with the Bulldogs as the home team. Both start at 7 p.m. Game three, if necessary, is at noon Saturday, May 3, and the home team will be determined using a coin flip after the second game.
The Bulldogs are on a nine-game winning streak. Their last loss was to Lampasas 6-5 March 25.
“I’m super proud of the kids for their mentality and digging deep and finding a way to get in,” head coach Russel Houston said.
They also beat Lago Vista 6-3 April 26 led by senior pitcher Rhett Murray. Kason O’Hair, Khris Kassner and Charles Edwards “had timely hits.”
Against Gateway, senior Matthew Valdez led the way. At the plate, he produced 4 RBI. On the mound, he forced batters to do what he wanted them to do. As a result, the Gators had 1 run off 2 hits.
“It’s been a long slow process for him to be able to come back from the injuries,” Houston said. “It’s been a long process to be able to come back. He had two strikeouts and allowed two hits in six innings. He was able to manipulate batters and have them swing at pitches that weren’t great to swing at.”
Burnet scored a run in the first inning and added another in the third for a 2-0 lead. Gateway plated its only run in the bottom of the third inning, then the Bulldogs had their most offensive production in the final innings: 3 in the fifth, 1 in the six, and 2 in the seventh.
Valdez was 4 for 4 at the plate. Trey Morrow, who bats before Valdez, also was 4 for 4 with 3 doubles and a single.
“(Valdez) is also coming up when the runners in the lineup before him are on base,” Houston said. “(Morrow) gave Matthew those opportunities to drive those runs in. We’ve had a lot of kids who had some really good at-bats.”
The coach also pointed out something that may be minor to fans but big to a bullpen. Charles Edwards had a 15-pitch at-bat.
“Those are the things that don’t show up in a stat sheet but show up in a game,” he said. “You’re running his pitch count up. It allows your batters to see everything that pitcher throws.”
As happy as Houston was for Valdez, he was equally complimentary of the Bulldog defense. When the ball was put in play, they made sure to get to it to make the outs.
“I thought we played really, really solid,” he said. “I don’t know that we made a mistake defensively. (Gateway) is hitting a lot of ground balls and pop-ups.”
With Burnet now turning its attention to the Class 4A Division II playoffs, Valdez’s performance came at a great time, Houston said.
“You can’t have too many arms,” he said. “(Valdez) is not going to get overwhelmed by the situation. Having him in there let’s us go to him at the right time.”
Burnet was still awaiting a bi-district opponent from District 23-4A. Waco Robinson and Lorena played the night of April 28 to determine district standings and playoff berths.
CAPTION: Senior catcher Alex Cantrill steps forward to make a throw to second base for the out. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
