Marble Falls baseball loses to China Spring
CAPTION: Marble Falls junior Atreyu Machacek came through with clutch hits to score runs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School baseball team lost to China Spring in a bi-district series in the Class 4A Division I playoffs.
The Mustangs lost game one 12-2 May 1 and game two 5-3 May 2.
“We took the No. 2 team in the state (to the wire),” head coach Tyler Porter said. “It was an encouraging year. A day later, you’re a little bit frustrated and disappointed.”
That’s because Porter saw chances for the Mustangs to keep the series going.
Trailing 3-0 in the second contest, the Mustangs (13-16, 7-5 third in District 24-4A) tied it in the bottom of the third. Freshman Braxton Dicken drew a lead-off walk, went to second on an error, and third on a single by junior Grant Carter.
Sophomore John Alan Whittle hit a RBI single to center field.
Carter scored on an error thanks to a hard ground ball hit by sophomore Owen Nash. Whittle went home on a double to left field by junior Atreyu Machacek to tie the contest at 3-3.
A weather delay sent the teams indoors for awhile. When play resumed, they played even until the top of the seventh inning. The first Cougar batter walked and the next one struck out swinging. The runner went to second on a wild pitch and stole third. Carter fielded a ground ball and threw home, but it wasn’t in time. The batter immediately went to second on the throw home and to third on an error. He scored on a RBI single.
As the Mustangs returned to the dugout to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, Porter saw the Cougars’ scoring empowered one dugout and had the opposite effect on the other.
“They were deflated we couldn’t get it done,” Porter said. “And the kid they brought in (at pitcher) in relief was good.”
He pointed out that China Spring (29-2, 10-0 District 23-4A champions) made some great defensive plays to win the game, adding his players hit the ball hard but the Cougars got to them.
All five China Spring runs were earned thanks to 5 hits and 7 walks. Marble Falls scored 1 earned run off 3 hits and 7 walks.
The series had its challenges from the start thanks to Mother Nature.
Originally scheduled to play the entire series at Jarrell with game one April 30, it was moved to May 1 and to China Spring. Marble Falls had to drive to China Spring from Jarrell since the location change wasn’t made until both teams meet in Jarrell because of the inclement weather. First pitch didn’t happen until 8:20 p.m.
The Cougars scored three runs in the first inning and another in the second for a 4-0 lead.
Marble Falls plated a run in the third inning thanks to a RBI single that brought junior Canon Cochran home, who took first after being hit by a pitch to trim, the deficit 4-1.China Spring answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to add to the lead 7-1.
The Mustangs scored their other run in the fourth inning on a Cochran single that sent Nash home, who reached first base by drawing a walk.
The Cougars scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and another in the fifth to win the game on a run rule.
Of the 12 China Spring runs, four were earned as the Mustangs committed six errors.
“That was a rough first game,” Porter said. “They’re good. We didn’t play the cleanest baseball game. So your margin for error is small. They played better than us, and we gave them the extra outs.”
China Spring pitcher Jacob Hinojosa, who is normally the Friday starting pitcher, allowed 1 earned run off 5 hits and a walk while striking out four in four innings in the series opener.
Marble Falls returned home and coaches didn’t leave the campus until 2:20 a.m. May 2. Porter said his day began at 6 a.m. with the players taking batting practice at 9 a.m. for an 11 a.m. ball game.
By the time the second game ended, it took five hours and 10 minutes to complete because of the number of weather delays.
The Marble Falls roster has only one senior. After not making the playoffs in 2024, the Mustangs were back in the postseason this year. But because so many of the roster has underclassmen who start, there’s little coaches and returners can do to help them with the different feeling of playing May baseball as opposed to March and April baseball.
Knowing what the program returns makes the coaching staff excited for 2026.
“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Porter said. “They’re old (in ability) except they’re young (in experience). We knew that 90 percent of our team, this was their first playing experience.”
