Burnet baseball aims for playoff berth
CAPTION: Freshman pitcher Hudson Crawford got the nod to pitch during the win against Lago Vista April 18. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Burnet High School baseball team’s season comes down to the final two games of the regular season.
The Bulldogs (15-15-1, 6-6) will face Georgetown Gateway. Game one is in Georgetown Tuesday, April 21, and game two will be played at Bulldog Diamonds Friday, April 24. The junior varsity plays at 4:30 p.m. A ceremony honoring seniors and their families will be conducted before the varsity game Friday.
The Bulldogs, who are on a six-game winning streak, need to win one of the next two to clinch a playoff berth. If the Gators (7-15-1, 4-6) win both games, they’ll advance to the postseason. They are currently on a four-game winning steak by shutting out Jarrell 10-0 April 17 and 21-0 April 14 and Taylor 10-0 April 9 and 11-0 April 7.
“I think we all knew after the first couple weeks that it was just going to come down to this last week of the season, as far as getting in or not,” Burnet head coach Russell Houston said. “And that’s what you want. You want to give your kids a chance and you want them to give themselves a chance to get into the playoff mentality. I think they’ve known this for a while, and they’ve accepted this, and I think they’re ready for it. They’ve done a good job of taking it one inning at a time, one pitch at a time, and just trying to do the best that they can. “
Junior pitcher Mason Watson is normally the Tuesday starter who has played unafraid of the defining moments in a contest. He quickly forgets miscues and outruns throws to bases that are momentum swingers for the Bulldogs.
“Mason is just one of those kids that you love to have,” Houston said. “He doesn’t fear the big situation, and he looks forward to it.”
And while the coach gives Watson plenty of props, he noted Watson’s teammates, including senior pitcher Cohen Jorpeland, who is the Friday starter, play like that, too.
“I think we have several kids that are like that and don’t care about the situation,” he said. “They’re willing to go do whatever’s necessary to just go find a way to win, whether it be sacrifice bunting or whatever. I think our kids are more worried about us than they are the individual accolades, and I think that that goes a long way with this group of kiddos.”
Houston believes there will be defining moments in each game this week.
“It’s going to come down to several different plays, two or three different plays in Tuesday’s game that we’re either going to have to make or they’re going to have to make in order to win the ball game,” he said. “I think we’ve been in that situation. I think we’ve been in that situation plenty of times and we’ve had some success with it. So I like our chances.”
The Bulldogs will enter the contest with momentum after defeating Lago Vista 5-2 April 18 in non-district play.
“It was good to get back out on the field,” Houston said. “They competed really well. We scored five runs and only gave up two, so it was a good day.”
Freshman pitcher Hudson Crawford allowed two runs in six innings.
“He threw well,” the coach said. “As far as defensively, we played clean, we played clean defense.”
Offensively, junior Cade Park and senior Cohen Jorpeland led the way.
Park hit a solo home run in the third inning and Jorpeland added a three-run homer in the fifth.
“You hope that you can just stay positive and keep rolling a little bit and stay hot,” Houston said. “That’s the big thing is just trying to keep the kids swinging well and playing really good defense.”
CAPTION: Junior Cade Park (right) hit one of two home runs during the win against Lago Vista. Standing next to him is head coach Russell Houston. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
