Marble Falls baseball beats Gateway

CAPTION: Sophomore Cade Briseno brought in the game-winning run in an important sequence of events for the Mustangs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School baseball team defeated Georgetown Gateway 3-2 March 19 to sweep the Gators in District 24-4A play.

“Adversity is good and seeing the kids handle that,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “We were down the entire time until the sixth inning. To be able to pound out three to get the win shows what the kids are made of.”

The Mustangs (13-3, 3-1) beat Gateway 8-5 March 17 where Marble Falls scored all the runs it needed in the first inning.

But in the rematch there was less offense and stronger defense.

The Gators scored a run in the first inning then added another in the second on a sacrifice fly ball.

That lead held until the sixth inning.

“That was a great inning,” Porter said.

It began with a single by senior Canon Cochran.

“Canon has every incentive to go up there and try to hit a home run,” the coach said. “But he didn’t. He went up, he hit a line drive up the middle to get it started, which is just what we need. Canon stole second, which was big and put himself in scoring position. Then he does a great job at second base, gets (the pitcher’s) attention and then literally on the first pitch, he steals third.”

Sophomore Ben Sowers was hit by a pitch and Cochran was forced to return to second.

“But the pitcher is rattled,” Porter said.

As a result, a balk is called allowing runners to advance. By then freshman Drew Whittle was running for Sowers.

Junior Owen Nash scored Cochran on a sacrifice fly ball to right field. But Whittle also tagged at second and ran to third after the catch was made.

“Which is another small thing that was huge for us,” the coach said. “So a great job there by him.”

Freshman Landon White hit a RBI single to center field to bring Whittle home, senior Atreyu Machacek drew a walk, and sophomore Cade Briseno hit a RBI single down the third-base line to bring White home on the game-winning run.

“That joker almost fell as he rounded third,” Porter said with a grin about White. “His cleats got slippery and he almost fell. But he stayed up and scored the winning run.”

Marble Falls sophomore pitcher Crawford Mattox got the win. He allowed one earned run on seven hits and two walks in seven innings while striking out four. The Mustangs didn’t commit an error while turning one double play.

“I can’t say enough good things about Crawford Mattox on the mound,” Porter said. “He got ahead early and did a good job also of letting his defense make plays behind him. Our guys made plays. Crawford did a great job mentally of just staying in it. He was in great shape, he felt great and didn’t want to come out of the game. And that’s what you want to see.”

Cochran was 2 for 4 at the plate, which included a double off the wall, and stole two of the Mustangs’ four stolen bases. Porter noted Marble Falls didn’t strike out a lot “and then that mentality of keeping the line moving. Even though we’re not scoring, nobody’s down, nobody’s upset.”

“Our top four guys (juniors John Alan Whittle and Grant Carter, Cochran and Mattox) are our dudes, and they’re putting together good advancements,” Porter said. “We’re just not getting anything out of it. John Alan hits two of the hardest balls he’s hit all year, but they were just deep balls to the wall. So it’s kind of those baseball deals. Some line drives were right at kids. We scored three with the same approach, same at-bats. It just finally paid off.”

Marble Falls welcomes Austin Akins Tuesday, March 24, in non-district play. The junior varsity plays at 4:30 p.m. and the varsity follows at 7:30 p.m.

CAPTION: Head coach Tyler Porter talks to three of the Mustangs’ dudes – sophomore Crawford Mattox and juniors John Alan Whittle (2) and Grant Carter (11). Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro