Yoe closes 20-3A on winning note

Entering the final week of play, Cameron’s position in 20-3A was locked in at the number two spot. Regardless of what happened in the final two games, that was not going to change. The only thing left to do was to take care of business and enter the playoffs on a high note, and the Yoemen did just that this past week with a pair of wins to close out the district schedule.

Cameron finished the regular season with a 19-5 overall mark and 10-2 record in 20-3A action.

Rockdale (W 7-5)

It took one extra innings, but the Yoemen did what was needed in a 7-5 win over rival Rockdale in 8 innings of play.

Uncharacteristic errors led to Rockdale taking a 5-1 lead after three before the Yoemen scored 1 in the fifth, 3 in the seventh and 2 more in the eighth inning to come from behind.

“That has kind of been our deal this year,” said Yoe head baseball coach John Broussard. “We had one bad inning in the third where we made three or four errors. We were able to cut the bleeding off and keep it at five runs.”

In the seventh, Jason Llanas reached on an error by the second baseman. Welsh singled and Harris walked to load the bases with no outs. Jordan Young singled to center, scoring two while cutting the lead to 5-4. Brashear Brashear sacrificed the runners over before Ty Moore was walked to load the bases again. Keaton Hundle then hit a towering fly ball to first base. The Tiger first baseman could not judge the ball and it fell in. The batter was out due to the infield fly rule, but Harris was able to make his way home as the ball hit the ground.

“When I saw that he missed it and Coach Broussard told me to go,” said Harris on when he decided to go home. “I was already prepared to go in the first place and I wanted to be aggressive and put as much pressure on them as possible.”

In the eighth, it was the suicide squeeze that once gave the Yoemen the win, just as it did in Franklin a few weeks ago. With Zack Andress charging home from third on the pitch, Harris got the job done by getting down the bunt.

“It has won us numerous games and a lot of runs have come off of it,” said Harris. “It’s a big part of the game. I got a fastball right down the middle. You want to hit the ball right there but the team comes first in every situation.”

Young proceeded to add on an insurance run with a double to center.

All of Rockdale’s runs were unearned. Andress pitched the first 2.2 innings, giving up 2 hits and 5 unearned runs. Llanas came in for relief and went the final 5.1 innings, giving up only 4 hits while striking out 4.

Academy (W 8-3)

On Friday, the Yoemen took the sting out of the playoff hopeful Bees with a 8-3 victory on the road.

The Yoemen, which finish 20-3A play at 10-2, and have had the number two seed clinched since April 13.

“Every game from here on out is basically a playoff game for us to get ready for our playoff game,” said Broussard. “Once you clinch, keeping your guys focused is one of the hardest things. Our guys did a good job tonight and they played hard and I was excited for them. It was a good night.”

Cameron’s big offensive surges came in the mid-part of the game in the third and fourth innings.

With the game tied at one, the Bees appeared poised to push across a run in the second. With one out, a single and two consecutive errors had the bases loaded with one out. Yoe starting pitcher Jordan Young got out of trouble, inducing a flyout and groundout to end the threat.

The Yoemen went on to score two of their own in their next at bat.

“Our backs were against the wall right there, and for them not to score a run allowed us to steal the momentum,” said Broussard. “We were able to throw up a two-spot and that carried on throughout the game.”

Welsh and Harris were both hit by pitch to put two runners on with one out. Young picked up his second double in as many games to put the Yoemen up for good, 3-1. In the fourth, a Welsh hit by pitch with the bases loaded, Young sacrifice fly, and Brashear single to right increased the margin to 6-1.

The Yoemen added on more insurance in the seventh as a Llanas single to center scored Ty Moore and Alex Alonso. Young pitched two innings in his first outing of the year after recovering from injury. The senior gave up 3 hits and 1 run and struck out 1. Brashear pitched the final 5 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs while striking out 2.

Now it’s all about the playoffs.

“We have to just keep working hard and realize there are three parts to every season,” said Broussard. “The first part is scrimmages and pre-season, then district, and then what we work for is to get to that third part. We want to get back to where we want to be and make a run and hopefully still play in June. Our guys are motivated and hungry.”