Gunner Baker of
Carlisle (Price, Texas) concluded his career in June with a Texas Class 1A baseball state championship and a place in the record books among the all-time pitching and hitting leaders in Texas high school baseball history.
Gunner Baker, Carlisle
Photo by Jim Redman
First the facts: Baker went 53-4 in four years as a pitcher at Carlisle, striking out 590 batters. At the plate, Baker had 208 career RBIs, 19 career triples and 179 career runs. All marks rank among the best all-time marks in state history.
Baker holds two state records: He struck out 22 straight batters during the 2013 season and he had 13 RBIs in one game as a junior.
The only problem here is that an official Texas high school state record book does not exist for baseball. Former Houston Chronicle sports writer Bill McMurray compiled high school baseball records until his retirement in the early 1990s, but since then baseball record keeping in Texas has been spotty.
Therefore, MaxPreps is making an effort to compile a
Texas high school baseball record book. Expanding on information researched by McMurray, MaxPreps has added to the record book with stats compiled through the site leaderboards as well as through the National Federation of High Schools record book and coaches' nominations.
The resulting lists are by no means complete, but they are a start. Texas coaches are encouraged to look over the lists and contact Kevin Askeland at
kevin.askeland@cbsinteractive.com with any additions or changes.
Baker figures prominently in these updated lists. His 53 career wins rank No. 3 in state history, just two behind all-time leader Keith Creel of Duncanville.
Baker's 590 career strikeouts rank fourth all-time. The state's all-time strikeout record is held by legendary David Clyde of Westchester (Houston) with 842 - 184 strikeouts ahead of the No. 2 all-time leader.
Baker would have ranked No. 1 all-time in career triples with 19 if
Jacob Cheatham of
Elkhart (Texas) hadn't set a national record with 17 triples this season. Cheatham finished his career with 26 triples, putting Baker in the No. 2 spot along with
Allan Hooker of
Northland Christian (Houston). It should be noted that Amarillo's Michael Baca had 14 triples in one season, but his career totals are unknown.
Baker finished his career with 208 RBIs, which ranks second all-time to John Paul II (Corpus Christi) standout Jose Trevino, who had 262. Trevino also appears often in the updated record book with records for career and season RBIs, career runs, career hits, career doubles and career and season home runs.
Baker finished fourth on the career runs list with 179. Trevino is No. 1 with 207.
