Burnet baseball has numerous all-district selections

CAPTION: Noah Crawford’s ability to get on base and natural speed made him a dangerous runner on the bases. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

Several members of the Burnet High School baseball team were named to the All-District 24-4A team based on their performances during the 2025 season.

Senior shortstop Noah Crawford is the district’s Offensive Most Valuable Player, while Cooper Faris, Alex Cantrill and Trey Morrow are on the first team.

Second team members are Cooper Alexander, Khris Kassner and Matthew Valdez and honorable mention went to Cade Park and Mason Watson.

Crawford’s selection isn’t surprising. He is the region’s most complete player with the ability to make plays at his defensive position by running down balls. His speed and accuracy allowed him to make throws from anywhere on the left side of the diamond. At the plate, he was counted on to get the Bulldogs’ line-up going by getting on base and immediately putting the pitcher at a disadvantage. That’s because his natural speed on stealing bases forced catchers to throw accurately and on time to get him out, which didn’t happen often. His batting average was near .493 and his on-base percentage was near .587. He led his team with 6 triples and 37 runs on top of the three homers and 14 RBI from 17 singles and 9 doubles.

While his numbers speak for themselves, head coach Russell Houston said Crawford’s contributions extended beyond them.

“He was a very competitive young man with great leadership skills and super talented,” Houston said. “The big thing was his competitiveness and leadership. He was not always the most vocal. He’s the one who’s always doing the work. When your best player is also your hardest worker, you have a team like that. They follow, they’re seeing him do extra stuff. It builds and builds and builds more of everything. It was his work ethic and ability to do extra things.”

Morrow hit .450 en route to having 41 hits that included 21 singles, 13 doubles, 3 triples and 4 homers to resulted in 37 RBI.

But it was his work as a pitcher that got coaches talking.

“There was joy in the way that young man this year took ownership of being that guy on the mound,” Houston said. “He said, ‘I’m going to be that guy and I’m going to throw strikes.’ He threw in every big game we had and 90 percent of the time, he threw well. I think he threw as well as anyone in our district. Trey was consistent at the plate and on defense. He was one of our leaders defensively and at the plate. You could count on him. I it was hit to him, he was going to make the play.”

Cantrill had 14 singles and 14 doubles en route to recording 33 hits and drawing 30 walks. He had 25 RBI and two homers and did it all as the team’s catcher.

“Alex did a great job catching,” Houston said. “He called every pitch this year. He made my job easier. He’s one of the few in the last two years we let call every pitch. He’s a kid who could do that and knew the game so well. It helped out.”

Houston was equally happy for the second teamers.

“I thought (Valdez) performed well,” he said. “Cooper stepped in and played his first year on the varsity as a senior and played a position he wasn’t supposed to. Kassner made big plays for us and was a solid player. He did anything to help us out. He did all the things we needed him to.”

The honorable mention honors went to two sophomores “who came in and played well and contributed,” the coach said.

“Cade was one of our more consistent pitchers,” he said. “Both are going to be really good by the time they’re both juniors and seniors. They came into this season not knowing if they were good enough and realized they could play with this group of kiddos. They’re a solid group of kids.”

The season officially ended when Crawford and Morrow played in the Austin Area Baseball Coaches Association All-Star game June 8 at Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

“Noah got to play for the first time since he got injured,” Houston said. “Trey got walked once and got a hit. They were seeing big (Classes) 6A and 5A pitchers throwing 91 to 94 mph. It was a neat experience for those kiddos.”

CAPTION: Trey Morrow excelled at the plate as well as on the field to help the Bulldogs return to the playoffs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro