Burnet baseball beats Marble Falls

CAPTION: Bowen Raiford waits for his pitch against the Marble Falls Mustangs. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Burnet High School baseball team defeated Marble Falls 4-1 in eight innings March 13 to spit the District 24-4A series. Three days earlier, the Mustangs slipped past the Bulldogs 3-0.

“I thought both games were played really, really well on Tuesday and on Friday,” Burnet head coach Russell Houston said. “On Friday night, we kept giving ourselves opportunity after opportunity after opportunity, and we weren’t successful early and our kids were getting a little — not saying stressed — but they were getting a little frustrated. I always try to say, ‘Hey, just keep giving yourselves the opportunity, keep putting kids on base, keep putting pressure on them. At some point in time, something positive is going to come and it’s going to come through.’ And it finally did.”

The game was tied at 1-1 in the top of the eighth inning when Burnet junior Cade Park stepped to the plate. The Bulldogs loaded the bases after two outs.

“We didn’t have anybody on and then were able to manufacture a couple of ground balls that just landed in the right spot and then Cade Park hit a double that cleared the bases,” Houston said.

Then freshman pitcher Hudson Crawford took over for senior Cohen Jorpeland. Crawford allowed one hit and one walk and struck out one in relief. Jorpeland allowed one run off three hits and one walk in seven innings. Burnet also turned one double play.

“I did not want to have to change pictures, but we were out of pitches,” Houston said, referring to the 110 pitches per pitcher in a game set by the University Interscholastic League. “If he could have stayed in, I’d to let him go. He was pitching lights out.”

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the fourth inning when an error yielded a run.

Park was 2 for 5 at the plate and had 3 RBI. In all, Houston anticipated the Bulldogs stranded 10 runners.

As for the loss March 10, Houston called it a “weird” contest.

“I thought on Tuesday (Marble Falls junior) John Alan (Whittle) pitched well, I thought that our kids put the ball in play and they just made some plays,” he said. “They made two plays that were just weird plays on Tuesday night. We hit a ball at the middle and it bounced off the pitcher and went straight to the first basement while he was standing on the bag, which is just baseball. We had runners on first and second, hit a ball up the middle and their second basement made an outstanding play behind the bag and got out of an inning, which kept us from scoring. And then we just didn’t get the timely hit. We always talk about getting the two-out hits and finding ways to continue to pass the bat along.”

District eyes were definitely on Burnet County in the first week of district play because this series featured teams that most believe will be in the mix to contend for the championship. So was it indicative of the district race itself where every at-bat and miscue is magnified?

“I think it’ll be interesting,” Houston said. “We have Salado this week, it’s spring break. It’s different – 3 o’clock games on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s all the things that are weird. Can our kids go and perform in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday and Thursday with probably not a lot of people in the stands because it’s spring break? Does that play a role in it?”

Burnet will travel to Salado Tuesday, March 17, then welcome the Eagles Thursday, March 19.