Marble Falls shuts out Killeen Ellison
MARBLE FALLS — A thrashing was exactly what the Marble Falls High School baseball team was looking for.
The Mustangs (4-6) took it right to Killeen Ellison Tuesday, powering to a 10-0 win in five innings behind what head coach David Norwood called outstanding pitching, solid hitting and terrific fielding.
Senior Thomas Nichols catches the popup for an out as sophomore Zed Woerner makes sure to not touch his teammate. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
In short, Marble Falls played consistent baseball, which is exactly what the coach wanted.
“I think the big thing is when the kids do what they’re supposed to do, good things happen,” he said. “Ellison is a good club. I think they came in at 8-2 or 7-3. They’ve played and battled some really good people. So it’s not only a win but a quality win.”
Junior pitcher Brian Hicks earned the win.
“He was very sharp,” Norwood said. “I think he accepted the challenge, coming off a poor performance at the Kerrville Tivy Tournament.”
Hicks simply dominated the Ellison batters by forcing them to chase pitches or confusing them into freezing at the plate.
“He threw strikes and worked ahead of the hitters,” the coach said.
If an Ellison batter hit the ball, Hicks’ teammates knew what to do with it and made the outs without mistakes.
“We had to make some plays,” Norwood said. “We did not make an error.”
Offensively, the Mustangs were simply on fire. They reached base thanks to hitting in the open field and strung together hits to ensure the runs came.
“We hit the ball up the middle and across the field,” Norwood said.
He attributed to the offensive overflow to what happened at Kerrville during the weekend. Marble Falls won one of four contests.
“I think we were a little embarrassed by our lack of power at Kerrville,” the coach said. “We played good teams, but we didn’t execute well.”
About the only glaring area was the Mustangs’ bunting, Norwood said.
Overall, it was the kind of victory that will help as the Mustangs begin their final preparations before the start of District 25-4A play.
“I think we needed to get our confidence back,” Norwood said. “We just absolutely were down in the dumps.”
Marble Falls will compete in the Austin Independent School District Tournament that begins today.
The Mustangs will meet Austin Travis at noon. On Friday they will take on San Marcos at 2:30 p.m. and Eagle Pass at 7:30 p.m. and end with a contest against Austin Akins 5 p.m. Saturday.
Norwood said coaches are still evaluating players and have not settled on starting infielders.
“I don’t think we’ve played consecutive games with the same infield yet,” he said. “We’re still searching for that mix.”
The Marble Falls junior varsity teams also earned wins. The gold team won, 13-0, while the purple nabbed a 4-2 victory.