Marble Falls baseball beats Gatesville

CAPTION: Junior Grant Carter (left) reacts to the solo home run by junior John Alan Whittle as he touched home plate, tapped his helmet to Carter’s and ran into his teammates’ huddle in celebration. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School baseball team defeated Gatesville 5-1 April 29 in game one of the Class 4A Division I bi-district series.

Game two is set for 3 p.m. Thursday, April 30, with a third game, if necessary, to follow 30 minutes after the second contest ends. The series is at Thrall High School.

“Huge (win), that was big,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “We had so many kids perform, (and) they needed to. They performed so well.”

It’s the first playoff win for the Mustangs (24-5, 11-3 District 24-4A runners-up) since the 2009 season.

The Mustangs, who were the visiting team, struck first thanks to a solo home run by junior lead-off batter John Alan Whittle, his third since district play began, that went over the center field wall at the top of the third inning. It’s at least the second time Whittle has hit a homer to begin an inning.

But the Hornets answered in their half of the inning with a solo homer over the left field wall.

Then sophomore third baseman Crawford Mattox had the hit of the night.

Junior Owen Nash drew a walk, Whittle reached first on a fielder’s choice, and junior Grant Carter drew a walk to load the bases.

With two outs, Mattox stepped into the box and saw his pitch, a fastball, that he sent over the right field wall for the 5-1 lead.

“I felt like I was in my head a little at the beginning,” he said. “But then I just relaxed and knew I was the dude that should be up right now and I saw my pitch, and I executed it.”

“Honestly, that’s probably one of the biggest home runs of my 22 years in and the biggest home run in a playoff game,” Porter said. “Because after that, the air was kind of out. I felt like the game might not be decided yet, but I felt that momentum towards us. To me, it’s a tough hole to get out of.”

That was all the separation the Mustang pitchers needed.

Senior pitcher Canon Cochran showed tremendous command of the strike zone, especially at the start of the contest where he delivered strike after strike. He allowed one earned run off three hits and 5 walks with 9 strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Sophomore Anderson Liscum took over and surrendered one hit, two walks and struck out three in 2 2/3 innings. Two of those strikeouts came in the final inning and the contest ended when Mattox caught a pop-up in foul territory.

Gatesville and Marble Falls each left the bases loaded once and the Mustangs stranded two runners in a couple of other innings.

But to most coaches, including Porter, that’s baseball.

“The swings that we had were huge swings,” he said. “I thought we’d come around.”

Cochran said he knew he was starting three days earlier and echoed the reason why from Porter.

“I honestly expected their No. 1 to pitch, so I figured kind of throw them off,” the hurler said.

“He’s been a top guy,” Porter said of the senior. “He’s been catching for us. Really it was an option to throw him later, and he’s a dude. Him on the mound is huge because now we still have Mattox and Whittle and all of our relievers, which again sets the series. That’s the goal. What we want is if we have to have a game three, to set up the best matchup possible.”

Even when Cochran may have gotten into a little bit of trouble with back-to-back walks in the fourth inning, the pitcher came back to end the threat with back-to-back strikeouts. He had three in that inning alone.

During those moments, he went back to a program motto that has become a staple.

“Next pitch,” he recalled thinking to himself.

He smiled when asked what he was thinking as Mattox hit the grand slam.

“Finally got a little bit of relief,” he said.

“As a hitter, you have to help your pitcher out with scoring,” Mattox said. “That’s your whole goal.”

When Cochran handed the ball to Liscum, he gave him only one piece of advice.

“Throw strikes,” he said.

Mattox, who didn’t indicate when he might take the mound, simply pointed out the commitment he and his teammates have to bringing their best to the diamond.

“With our defense behind us, we all feel super confident against anybody we play,” he said. “We have a shot.”

CAPTION: Senior pitcher Canon Cochran got the nod to start game one, and he delivered by showing great command of his pitches and mastery of the strike zone. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro