Marble Falls baseball sweeps Akins

CAPTION: Junior Owen Nash is one of several Mustangs who contributed to multiple hits during the win against Austin Akins March 27. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School baseball team crushed Austin Akins 19-6 March 27 in non-district play.

The Mustangs got a hot start from junior John Alan Whittle, who led off with a solo home run in the game’s first at-bat.

“That set the tone to the first inning,” head coach Tyler Porter said. “Our bats did a good job, defense played well, so it was good to get out of there with a win.”

A second run came home when sophomore Crawford Mattox hit a RBI double to center field.

Whittle added his second home run in the third inning. Junior Casey Layton hit a single and junior Owen Nash hit a double both down the first-base line for a RBI each and a 5-0 advantage.

The Mustangs scored a run in the fourth and fifth innings for a 7-0 lead. But the Eagles responded with six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“We just walked guys more than we should have,” Porter said.

Marble Falls answered with five runs in the sixth inning thanks to a Mattox RBI double, a sacrifice fly ball by senior Atreyu Machacek and two errors resulting in three other runs.

Sophomore Ben Sowers and Whittle each drew a walk to score a run apiece in the seventh inning, while sophomore Braxton Dickey had a RBI when he was hit by a pitch, junior Grant Carter hit a 2 RBI single and senior Canon Cochran hit a 2 RBI double.

The Mustangs had 15 hits with Mattox and Cochran each recording three, while Nash had two.

Pitcher Mattox didn’t allow a hit, a run or a walk while getting a strikeout in his only inning of work. Machacek pitched three inning of zero-run baseball with two walks and four strikeouts.

What pleased Porter are the number of Mustangs who played.

“We got a lot of guys at-bats, who hadn’t had a bunch,” he said. “Some guys who are coming back from injury got some innings on the mound, some at-bats. We didn’t coach these like we would a district game necessarily but still found a way to win both decidedly. That was a good thing.”

Marble Falls returns to District 24-4A play. The next two weeks are against co-district leaders Salado (12-8, 6-0) and Lampasas (14-5-4, 6-0).

Game one is Tuesday, March 31, in Salado and game two is against the Eagles Thursday, April 2, at Scearce Baseball Field. The junior varsities play at 5 p.m. and the varsities follow at 7 p.m.

“They’re obviously a good baseball,” Porter said of Salado. “Everybody went short, so everybody is available next week for whatever district game we want to throw them in.”

CAPTION: Sophomore pitcher Crawford Mattox is downright stingy in his only inning of work against Austin Akins. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro