Marble Falls baseball beats Cameron Yoe
CAPTION: Sophomore pitcher Crawford Mattox was one of several pitchers who led the defensive effort in beating Cameron Yoe. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
The Marble Falls High School baseball team stomped Cameron Yoe 11-1 in five innings Feb. 24.
“It was good,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “We did what I told them we’d do, what we were supposed to do. Cameron had good pitching, their kids competed and did a great job.”
The Mustangs plated three runs in the second inning highlighted by a RBI double by junior Owen Nash and a RBI single by senior Canon Cochran. Both players hugged the left field line. A wild pitch brought another runner home to give Marble Falls all the runs it needed for the win.
Still, the Mustangs weren’t done.
They added four more in the third when junior John Alan Whittle hit a RBI single, Cochran hit a 2 RBI triple and sophomore Crawford Mattox hit a RBI single.
Yoe committed six errors.
Because the Mustangs will compete in the Llano tournament Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 26-28, Porter gave each of his pitchers no more than an inning of work.
Mattox started the contest then was relieved by sophomore Ben Sowers, senior Atreyu Machacek, freshman Gage Goebel and sophomore Brayden Jackson.
“We had two guys (Goebel and Jackson) get their first varsity experience,” Porter said. “Jackson got the game ball because he didn’t even know he’d be with us. I told him this morning, ‘Hey man, we may need you to pitch,’ and he came in with the bases loaded and got us out of it, so that was impressive by a sophomore, who wasn’t really expecting to have a varsity Jersey. He did a great job in the role we asked him to do. And I’m very proud of him.”
To illustrate just how impressive the Mustangs were at the plate, consider this.
They scored 11 runs off 13 hits with sophomore Anderson Liscum, Cochran, Mattox, Nash and Whittle each recording multiple hits. Cochran hit two singles and a triple, while Mattox had a single and a triple.
Porter said he has been especially attentive to hitting.
“Other than one gross shutout (7-0 loss to Stephenville), we’ve scored 11 runs every time,” he said. “I think it was such an unknown for me. Because we were so young last year — some of the young kids played like young kids — and we thought they would be good. There’s potential, but we just hadn’t seen it yet. So now that we’ve seen it, we go ‘OK, they are what we thought they were going to be as far as good.’ But I’m always scared of the unknown. We pitched well last year and played defense. But our hitting was below average where it needed to be last year. So the expectation was pretty high and they’re meeting them, so I’m pretty happy about all that and keep it rolling.”
Canon, who was a freshman when the 2023 Mustangs won the District 24-4A title, said that squad was “pretty legit.” And the 2026 version has the work ethic, commitment and all the other traits for success. He noted practices are competitive and the Mustangs are putting in the work that put them in position to accomplish their goals.
“I think this team we got here has some dudes,” he said. “Definitely a lot more energy than last year’s team. Once the bat gets rolling, everyone gets pretty pumped up.”
Crawford said that as the Mustangs walked the field in Stephenville before game one Feb. 20, there was a confidence and a belief that they had all they needed to snag some wins. They’d put in the time for weeks and months and learned some tough lessons in 2025 that helped shape this season’s squad.
“Because we knew we have dudes who can play,” he said. “I think we just knew that we were going to have such a great season this year, expecting it. It showed us that we can fight through and get through.”
Marble Falls begins the Llano tournament by facing Austin Hyde Park at 3:45 p.m. and Liberty Hill Legacy Ranch at 6 p.m. both Thursday, Feb. 26, Comanche at 11:15 a.m. Friday, Feb. 27, and Hyde Park at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28.
