BASEBALL: Mustangs work on increased depth against Llano
LLANO — Though the Marble Falls High School baseball team did not accomplish its top agenda item — beating Llano Saturday — head coach David Norwood said the 8-7 setback allowed him to do other things.
First, it allowed the Mustangs (9-13, 3-3 in District 25-4A) to shuffle the lineup, he said.
“We had several starters we felt like it would be a good time to give them a break,” he said. “So we experimented by moving kids around.”
The coach hopes that move allows the team to build depth, especially as the Mustangs close in on their last four games of the regular season.
“We felt like we had a bunch of kids who needed work,” Norwood said. “We tried to reward some players with playing time.”
Though the Yellowjackets took a 2-0 lead after the first inning, Marble Falls regained the lead, 4-2, in the third.
But Llano scored two runs in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
The Mustangs scored three runs in the sixth but could not add the tying run in the seventh.
Marble Falls freshman Stacy Heinatz started at pitcher while senior Justin Garcia, sophomore Derek Steffek and senior Will Shirey were later called in to pitch.
“We got our guys work who haven’t gotten some reps,” Norwood said.
Senior Turner McQuaide (1-0) will be the starting pitcher against Killeen 7 p.m. Tuesday. He has an ERA of 6.00 and has given up 11 hits and 8 earned runs.