Marble Falls baseball sweeps Taylor

CAPTION: Sophomore pitcher Crawford Mattox was virtually unhittable in his outing against the Taylor Ducks. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School baseball team is returning to the Class 4A Division I playoffs thanks to disposing of Taylor 11-0 in five innings April 17.

The Mustangs (20-5, 8-3) scored a run in the first inning thanks to a groundout by senior Canon Cochran then exploded for six in the second inning thanks to sending 10 batters. Marble Falls moved and scorer runners thanks to a combination of hits and free bases.

An error brought home two runs, junior Grant Carter singled, scoring one run, an error added two runs, and another error scored another run.

“And some of that really was aggressive base running that kind of forced the errors they had – some bad throws,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “We had some kids on base that did a good job of seeing some things and being aggressive and led to some bad throws, which was a good thing.”

Sophomore pitcher Crawford Mattox threw 63 pitches and recorded two of his eight strikeouts in the final inning. He allowed two hits, four walks and zero runs.

“He almost had an immaculate inning in the second where he had two strikeouts in six pitches,” the coach said. “Then the next guy hit a ground ball on the ninth pitch in that inning. He looks really good right now, that you strike out eight through five innings and just those two walks at the end and one little I’m not even a bad single, but a guy had a single to ride for a one hit or so. Well.

Porter noted the Ducks split their series with the Mustangs in 2024. But that didn’t happen this years.

“It’s really easy in baseball to get a little bit maybe even overconfident and play some OK baseball and then let the other team sneak back in or just start out flat,” he said. “And our kids have done a great job of not letting that happen. They go out and focus on each pitch, each bat, whatever you’re looking at each half inning. I think Taylor is another example of that. We lost to Taylor last year, and that has bothered me and some other people for awhile because we were better than Taylor last year. Although we split, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but (pitcher Tayden Talley) was the kid who beat us at Taylor. I reminded (my players) of that. They did a good job of not doing too much, just staying focused and put together what they needed to and playing the defense they need to and then Crawford did a great job on the mound.”

Talley allowed six earned runs on eight hits and four walks with a strikeout in three innings.

The Mustangs turn their attention to final week of the regular season against Jarrell with site changes to the original schedule because of potential rain. Game one will be played in Jarrell Tuesday, April 20, and game two will be at Scearce Baseball Field Friday, April 24 with the junior varsities playing at 4:30 p.m. and the varsities at 7 p.m.

The home teams will honor seniors and their families before the varsity games begin.

In addition, the Mustangs will say good-bye to the current Scearce Field, which is the location of the new multipurpose facility. They are inviting former Mustangs onto the field after the game April 20 to meet, share stories and walk the field one final time. Former head coach Ronnie Scearce and his brother Mike will be on hand to perform “one last pitch” from the mound.

“They can hang out and tell stories or whatever,” Porter said. “As long as people want to stick around, we’ll stick around.”

CAPTION: The Mustangs continue to make routine defensive plays such as this one by junior shortstop John Alan Whittle. Photo by Jennifer Fierro/TexasChalkTalk.com