Burnet beats Marble Falls in five innings
MARBLE FALLS — An old-fashioned country tail whipping.
That’s how Marble Falls High School head baseball coach David Norwood summarized his team’s 10-0 loss to Burnet Thursday.
While it left the Mustangs (6-9) with their first loss of Spring Break, the Bulldogs (13-4) pushed their winning streak to five straight.
The victory was Burnet’s first over Marble Falls in two seasons.
“Marble Falls has a good baseball team,” Bulldogs head coach Todd Doucet said. “Coach Norwood does a great job.”
The Mustangs skipper appreciated his counterpart’s compliment and returned the favor.
“Burnet is a very good baseball team,” he said. “I am not sure we didn’t help them.”
He added the Bulldogs simply walked onto the field ready to play, and it was apparent right from the start.
Senior Greg Parker, who was batting second in the order, took the first pitch he saw over the center field wall — 365 feet — in the first inning for a 1-0 lead.
That marked the senior’s third homer of the season.
After the Mustangs went three up, three down, Bulldog junior Kyler Payne led off the second inning with another home run.
The homer pushed his batting average to .700, Doucet said, and was Payne’s fourth of the season.
Sophomore Ryan Runzheiher reached first on a dropped third strike, and sophomore Cash Conovan walked. Senior John Melvin recorded an RBI on a sacrifice bunt. Senior Hunter Ellett hit a two-RBI stand-up double. Parker and senior Travis Hoffmeister each added an RBI single, while senior Dillon Chafin was credited with an RBI on a sacrifice bunt.
Marble Falls freshman Cole Ridgley took over at pitcher for the Mustangs but not before Burnet recorded five runs. By the end of the inning, Burnet led, 7-0.
Marble Falls held the Bulldogs scoreless in the third and finally recorded a hit when sophomore Zed Woerner singled to left field.
But the Bulldogs added three runs in the fourth. Parker took a base after being hit by a pitch. Hoffmeister hit a double to left field, and Chafin hit an RBI single to left-center field. Junior Grant Martin added an RBI single.
The Mustangs’ earned their second hit thanks to a single to the left-center field gap by senior Cooper Bowen.
The Bulldogs skipper called the home runs bonuses.
“We try to hit line drives and ground balls,” he said.
And that’s how Burnet was able to score six runs in the second and three in the fourth.
“If you hit the ball hard, you give your guys a chance,” Doucet said.
Defensively, the Bulldogs made only one error, a dropped flyball in the fifth inning that did not hurt them because they were able to get the runner out at third when he tried to steal.
“We work on defense all the time,” the Burnet coach said. “We know we have some good pitchers. We try to give our pitchers a chance.”
Junior pitcher Emil Litterer (2-3) earned the win. He faced 18 batters, struck out six and walked one.
“When Litterer throws strikes and mixes up his pitches, he’s a hard pitcher to get on base on,” Doucet said. “When he gets in a groove, he’s hard to beat.”
Norwood agreed.
“Their kid has a really good changeup,” the Mustangs skipper said. “I thought we were pressing. We want to beat Burnet. As the game progressed, we could not make adjustments at the plate.”
Marble Falls junior pitcher Brian Hicks (2-2) was credited with the loss. He faced 18 batters and gave up six earned runs, struck out two, hit a batter with a pitch and walked another.
“Eighty percent of our first pitches were balls,” Norwood said. “Everybody’s a good hitter when the count is 2-0 or 3-1.”
Marble Falls will travel to face Llano 2 p.m. Saturday, while Burnet will be at Canyon Lake Friday at 7 p.m.