Burnet baseball loses to Salado
CAPTION: Mason Watson continues to perform at a high level for the Bulldogs. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School baseball team lost to Salado 5-3 March 17 and 20-9 March 19 in District 24-4A play.
In game one, the Bulldogs (6-12-1, 1-3) faced a 5-0 deficit headed into the seventh inning. Freshman Hudson Crawford and junior Mason Watson hit back-to-back singles and a fielding error sent Crawford home.
After a groundout, sophomore Cooper Evans’ infield RBI single scored Watson. Senior Cason O’Hair beat a throw to a bag that didn’t give the Eagles the game-ending double play. Instead senior Charles Edwards scored.
A groundout ended the game.
Burnet’s two errors allowed Salado to build a 4-0 lead.
The Eagles scored three runs with two outs after an Eagle was hit by a pitch and another hit a RBI single to the left that gave Salad a 2-0 lead. Double steals and a Burnet error gave the Eagles the lead for good.
Watson allowed two earned runs off six hits and three walks with six strikeouts in five innings. Evans didn’t allow a run in his only inning.
The Bulldogs had their offensive chances.
In the top of the second inning, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with no outs. But a failed suicide squeeze between strikeouts ended the threat. In the fourth inning, Burnet left the bases loaded again. But a strikeout and a fly out ended the threat. The Bulldogs stranded 11 runners in the contest and went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position.
In game two, Salado led 13-2 headed into the bottom of the third inning. Burnet changed pitchers after five batters in the first inning with the bases loaded and no outs.
“I’m not one to speak badly of people, but it was not officiated very well,” Houston said. “When you have 85 total high school batters in a seven-innning baseball game, that’s a long day at the ballpark. So neither kiddo was able to throw it or where the umpire wanted us throw it.”
He noted the Bulldogs “did hit the ball and it went at them. And when they hit the ball, it did not go to us. And when you have to throw a fastball down the middle, everybody knows what’s coming.”
The Eagles had 13 hits that included three home runs and seven doubles.
“I was frustrated, not with our kids,” the coach said. “I thought our kids fought and tried to make it competitive. We just couldn’t find enough hits and enough outs when we needed to to win the second game.”
Burnet turns its attention to Lampasas. Game one is at Bulldogs Diamonds Tuesday, March 24, and game two is in Lampasas Friday, March 27. The junior varsity plays at 4:30 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m. on both nights.
“I think we’re in a decent spot,” Houston said. “Obviously we’d love to be 4-0 or 3-1 or something like that. We’re not 0-4 at the moment, so I feel a lot better about it than what we did last year. There’s still a long way to go. We need to come out and stay competitive and positive with each other. This week’s a big one because it’s the next opponent. And also it’s 20 miles down the road. They’ll come back from these couple of days off really to go.”
CAPTION: Cooper Evans brought home a run in game one during the Bulldogs’ rally. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
