Yoe baseball goes 3-0 in own tournament

There are a lot of positives surrounding the Yoe baseball program at the moment. The Yoemen went a perfect 3-0 in the first annual Tournament of Champions hosted by both Cameron and Rogers. In addition, Cameron entered TxHighSchoolBaseball.com’s top 25 rankings released on Monday. Cameron (6-3) is tied for 24th in 3A ball with Rogers (4-2-1) and Clifton (7-2).

Tournament Play

After finishing 2-3 in the Marion tournament the previous week, the Yoemen rebounded with wins over Gatesville, Giddings and Burnet in their own tournament.

“I think our guys bounced back big time from last weekend,” said Yoe head baseball coach John Broussard after the wins. “We didn’t particularly play great, and we made a lot of strides. We still have a lot of things to work on, but it’s nice to be rolling in that direction heading into district.”

The Yoemen were scheduled to play Madisonville in the championship semifinal on Saturday, but rain forced the tournament to end early. Below is a capsule from each of the three wins.

Gatesville (W 12-3)

In the opener, Cameron fell behind 3-0 after the first half inning of play, but went on to score a dozen unanswered runs in a 12-3 victory over the Hornets. The Yoemen banged out 12 hits and had 3 multi-run innings in the opening win. Yoe starting pitcher Zack Andress pitched all six innings, and the junior gave up only 4 hits and the 3 unearned runs. Andress, also the leadoff man, began the offensive surge in the bottom of the first by singling to second base for an infield hit. 3 runs eventually crossed home plate to tie the game after one. Cameron went up 4-3 after three and 5-3 after four before scoring 7 runs in the finals two innings to put the game away. Andress finished 3-5 with 1 RBI, Jason Llanas was 2-5 with 3 RBI, Bryce Welsh was 2-3 with 1 RBI and Alex Alonso was 3-4 from the plate. All 12 hits were singles.

Giddings (W 11-1)

Cameron did not lay off in game two, pounding Giddings in six innings, 11-1. In addition to the 11 hits in the game, the Yoemen also showed patience at the plate with 11 walks. Jordan Young had one hit in the game, but was still perfect at the plate, going 1-1 with 3 walks. The senior drove in one run and scored three times. Andress had his second multi-hit game of the day, going 2-3 with a double and 3 RBI. Brandon Wilkins was 2-2 with 3 RBI and one run scored. Starting pitcher Jason Llanas gave the Buffaloes fits the entire game, throwing just 62 pitches in six innings, giving up 5 hits and 1 run.

Burnet (W 6-4)

In the finale of pool play, Cameron jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings before holding off Burnet late, 6-4. The Yoemen took advantage of Bulldog miscues in the opening inning as a Caden Harris ground ball to short overshot the first baseman, allowing Llanas to score all the way from first. In the second, Young and Bryce Brashear singled to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Brandon Wilkins then laid down a sacrifice bunt. The ball was fielded but the throw was too wide for the first baseman, allowing both runners to score, giving Cameron a 3-0 lead. Wilkins later scored on a Llanas single. Brashear got the call on the mound, and for three innings was perfect. Burnet scored 2 in the fourth and single runs in the 5th and 6th, which saw the return of Llanas to close the door on the comeback effort. Brashear struck out 6 and gave up 3 earned runs in his five innings pitched.

Franklin Tournament

Cameron will participate in their third and final tournament of the year this weekend at Franklin in the 30-team RBI Ranch Invitational. The Yoemen will open play on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. with Fairfield. The tournament features pure bracket play and has no pools, so with a