Marble Falls, Burnet baseball begin district play

CAPTION: John Alan Whittle is expected to take the mound against Burnet during the series that begins Tuesday, March 11. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls and Burnet baseball teams will meet each other to begin District 24-4A play.

Game one will be played at Scearce Field in Marble Falls Tuesday, March 11, and game two is at Bulldog Diamonds on the Burnet campus Friday, March 14. Both contests begin at 7 p.m.

“They’ll be good,” Marble Falls head coach Tyler Porter said. “They’re experienced with 14 seniors. That helps. They have kids who play a lot of baseball. They do a good job. (Burnet head coach Russell) Houston does a good job over there.”

Both teams enter this series after competing in weekend tournaments.

The Bulldogs hosted their own event and went 4-0 by beating Glen Rose 5-3, Wimberley 6-2, Maypearl 5-4 and Killeen 15-3.

Burnet’s pitchers were Mason Watson, Cooper Faris, Matthew Valdez, Rhett Murray, Cohen Jorpeland and Cade Park.

Noah Crawford powers the Bulldogs’ offense. He had 2 triples, 2 homers, 2 doubles and the game-winning hit against Maypearl during the tournament.

“Starting district with Burnet isn’t bad because we do know what they are and what they do well,” Porter said. “We’ll see how the games go.”

Meanwhile, the Mustangs went 1-3 at the Del Valle Tournament with a win against Manor and losses to Buda Hays and Pflugerville Weiss 8-0 apiece and to the host 3-2.

Porter said he was encouraged by what he saw.

“Our offense is getting better,” he said. “We’re not where we need to be, but we have substantially fewer strikeouts.”

Because of Spring Break next week, game days and start times against Georgetown Gateway have changed. The Mustangs travel to face the Gators at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, and welcome Gateway at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 20.

CAPTION: Noah Crawford is among the elite hitters in District 24-4A play. His multi-base hits and home runs give the Bulldogs a lift and provides the necessary separation for wins. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro