Marble Falls baseball hangs on for district win against Lampasas
CAPTION: The Marble Falls Mustangs gather around head coach Tyler Porter, who congratulates them for winning the District 24-4A opener against Lampasas. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School baseball team defeated Lampasas 4-3 March 7 in the District 24-4A opener for both teams.
Senior Cale Cochran led the way. He hit a 2-RBI double in the fourth inning to help the Mustangs build a 4-0 lead.
“He had the biggest swing of the night,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “We had really good at-bats. But Cale got the big swing that separated it.”
Cochran (1 save in district play) entered the contest at pitcher in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. The Badgers could only get one run off a groundout. He forced a pop-up for the second out and a 5-3 out to end the threat and force Lampasas to strand two.
In the seventh inning with Marble Falls leading 4-2, two Badgers reached base after being hit by pitches. J.T. Posten hit a RBI double to trim the deficit to 4-3. Then Cochran struck out the next two batters and forced the final batter to hit a pop-up to first to end the game.
“He definitely did a good job, and we scored enough to win it,” the coach said. “He doesn’t get too high or too low. He’s an even-keel guy. We went out there and needed to get three outs.”
Senior pitcher Bryce Atkinson was brilliant for five innings, averaging one strikeout per inning and forcing the Badgers into frustrating routine outs. Even the free bases did little to slow Atkinson, who showed complete command of the strike zone and set the tone for the Mustangs. By the time he exited, Marble Falls had a 4-1 lead.
Atkinson had been performing at that high level for quite some time. He earned the win (1-0 in district play) and is credited with two runs while striking out nine.
Atikinson helped his own cause with a RBI single in the second inning that scored junior designated hitter Davis Dreisbach for a 1-0 lead.
Porter pointed out that junior catcher Isaias Roman, who also had an RBI in the fourth inning, brings a comfort and a confidence to the team when he’s behind the plate.
“Having him back at a full go was huge for us,” he said. “His presence back there was calming. He has a high baseball IQ, he reads well. It’s his third year back there.”
As he thought back to the seventh inning, senior Evan Nickowski noted the Mustangs had the demeanor of veterans.
“We felt confident,” he said. “No one was scared, no one thought we were going to lose. We played our game. We talk about it all the time. You go back to normal and stay even keel.”
Marble Falls will play in the Del Valle Tournament Friday and Saturday, March 10-11. The Mustangs face Hays Consolidated at 9:30 a.m. and Pflugerville Weiss at noon, both on Friday, and Manor at 11:30 a.m. and Del Valle at 4:30 p.m. both on Saturday.
Marble Falls returns to district play against Georgetown Gateway (1-0 in district) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, at Scearce Field on the MFHS campus.
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