Burnet baseball beats Gateway to advance to the playoffs
CAPTION: Senior Cohen Jorpeland got the job done on the mound and at the plate for the Bulldogs in leading them back to the Class 4A Division II playoffs. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
Facing a win-or-go-home contest, the Burnet High School baseball team showed what it’s made of — grit, determination and will — in beating Georgetown Gateway 6-3 April 24 in District 24-4A play.
The victory qualifies the Bulldogs (12-15, 6-6) for the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.
“What I talked to our kids about was ‘want to know what it’s like to be in the playoffs? We are in the playoffs because we either win or we turn our stuff in,'” head coach Russell Houston recalled saying to his players following the 4-1 loss to Gateway April 21. “So they were super excited about it. But it was a calm excitement, which means I felt they were really, really confident. That doesn’t mean they weren’t nervous. It doesn’t mean they didn’t have all the butterflies. I just mean that they felt very confident about what was fixing to happen.”
The Bulldogs will face Waco Robinson in a best-of-three bi-district series at Robinson’s home field in a doubleheader that begins at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 30. Game two will begin 30 minutes after the first game ends. Game three, if necessary, will be at Bulldog Diamonds at 6 p.m. Friday, May 1.
Against Gateway, Burnet scored a run in the third inning only to see the Gators tie it in the fourth.
The Bulldogs broke the tie in the fifth inning when senior Cason O’Hair “had a big hit to score” for a 3-1 lead.
Gateway sophomore Trevor Meredeith hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to tie the game 3-3.
But Burnet wasn’t done. With runners on first and second with one out, senior Cohen Jorpeland hit a 2 RBI triple to the left-center field wall. Jorpeland scored the final run on a RBI single from junior Cooper Evans.
Other RBI came from juniors Fisher Powell and Cade Park.
Pitcher Jorpeland allowed 3 earned runs off 3 hits and 4 walks with 8 strikeouts in six innings. Park finished the contest by forcing the Gators to go three up, three down in the seventh inning.
“(Jorpeland) pitched really well through six innings gave up 3 runs,” Houston said. “Probably the coolest thing was (after) he gave up a two-run home run, which tied the game, and there was still nobody out in that inning, and he was able to keep his composure on the mound and go finish that inning and not give up anything else. And it was great for him. It was awesome. He pitched really, really well and kept his composure and just competed.”
While the coach couldn’t say enough about Jorpeland’s performance throughout the contest, the sixth inning illustrated another trait the senior developed in his final year in a Burnet uniform.
“Mental toughness,” Houston said. “I think he’s learned a lot. He’s learned how to be the guy, he’s learned how to be one of the guys. He’s learned how take on the pressure, and he’s learned how to be successful while doing that. And I think that is awesome for him, the mental toughness and the mental fortitude to say ‘give me the ball.’ I think it’s awesome and I think he’s done a great job this year.”
The other characteristic about this team that was on full display? Trust in another. Houston noted that while Jorpeland averaged a strikeout every inning, he trusted his teammates to make the defensive plays. And they delivered.
“He pitched a lot of competitive pitches early and was able to rely on the seven dudes sitting behind him,” the coach said. “Not that he didn’t have some big strikeouts and some strikeouts throughout the game, but he pitched to contact early, got a lot of ground balls, got a lot of flyballs, and our kids made all the plays, so it was good to be a part of. I’m not sure we had any errors, so we played clean baseball and when you can play clean baseball in high school, you give yourself a chance to win a baseball game. I was super proud of how well our kids did that.”
The Gators walked onto Bulldog Diamonds with plenty of belief thanks to their 4-1 win April 21 at home. Gateway, which needed to beat Burnet twice to clinch the final playoff spot, scored three runs in the first inning and one in the fourth. Jorpeland scored Burnet’s only run in the fourth inning. He had one hit and freshman Hudson Crawford had two hits.
Houston commended the Gators, pointing out they, too, have pride in playing well at home in their final appearance there of the season.
“It was at their place, and they came out with a lot of energy, and they played with a lot of confidence, and they played like they were playing for their season because they had to win that baseball game and they played with more energy and we just didn’t match it,” he said.
That outcome set up the winner-take-all contest April 24.
“The big message was pressure is a privilege,” Houston said. “Because if you don’t have pressure, you can’t get better and you have the privilege of having the pressure of getting into the playoffs and holding up the standard that’s been here for the last three or four years. The big thing was we have one game that we get to go play to make the playoffs and if you would have said, ‘Hey guys, you gotta go win one ball game and you’re are in the playoffs,’ they’d have taken that all year long. Were they disappointed in (April 21) game? Sure they were disappointed, but they also knew that they had chances and felt like if they would have taken advantage of the chances that they were given on Tuesday, that the outcome would have been different. And so they were excited about getting another chance at it and I think they were ready to go.”
CAPTION: Fisher Powell has a RBI during the win against Georgetown Gateway. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
