Troy pitching stifles Yoemen in bi-district series

It was the Yoemen that stole momentum in game one of last week’s bi-districts series with Troy. A Keaton Hundle single in the second had brought in base runner Caden Harris, giving Cameron the early 1-0 advantage.

From that point through the next 12 innings of play, Cameron could only muster up two more hits and no further runs as the Trojans completed the two-game sweep, 2-1 and 4-0.

“We had a few self-inflicted things happen to us, and we just couldn't recover,” said Yoe head baseball coach John Broussard. “Our guys fought hard and Troy is a good ball club. I felt like going into this that we were both evenly matched teams. We just made a few too many mistakes in game one and game two and they capitalized.”

Trojans game one starter Jaiden Beck settled down following the early run, giving up only 1 hit the remainder of the game to pick up the win. A performance of that magnitude is not normally outshined, but it was on this night from his teammate and fellow starter Tyler Sultimeier. The soon-to-be Temple College Leopard and game two starter kept the Yoemen off-balance all night, taking a perfect game to the seventh inning.

With one out, Jason Llanas drew a 3-2 walk to end the perfect game bid. That was followed by a Bryce Welsh single with two outs to end the the no-hitter. But, in the end, Troy and Sultimeier got what they wanted - a win.

“It hurts but we still got the win and we are going on to round two and I'm happy with it,” said Sultimeier.

“I think any time a kid has a chance to throw a perfect game or no-hitter, you are pulling for him,” said Troy coach Steve Sebesta. “We just couldn't finish it out. We lose the perfect game on a 3-2 pretty good pitch. We then hung a curveball and the kid did a good job of hitting it. We probably went to the well too many times.”

Sultimeier only threw 89 pitches in his seven innings with the 1 hit, 1 base on ball to go along with 7 strikeouts.

“He did a good job of attacking the zone and kept us off balance with the two or three pitches he was throwing,” said Broussard. “We squared some balls right at them and their defense did a good job of making some plays behind him. When you have that combination, it is hard to beat them.”

Zack Andress was the Yoe starter for game two. The junior gave up three runs in the opening frame before being replaced by Bryce Brashear. Brashear went the next five innings, giving up only 1 run, but the Yoe bats remained silent the rest of the way.

Yoe game one starter Jason Llanas was the hard-luck loser. The sophomore went the distance, scattering 7 hits while walking only one and striking out 6. Only one earned run was given up in the fourth, as in the following inning an error on the infield allowed the go ahead and eventual winning run to cross the plate.

Not only did the pair of losses close out the Yoemen’s season at 20-8-1, but it was also the final time for seniors Brandon Wilkins, Caden Harris, Jordan Young, Keaton Hundle and Ty Moore to play for Cameron.

“They are huge,” said Broussard of the senior class. “I have had those guys since they were in seventh grade and it is probably my first group. They mean a lot to me and I love those guys to death. I'm just sorry we couldn't make a better run for them. They put in four years of hard work and did a lot of things for our program that will last much longer than just this. I wish them the best.”

Other 20-3A bi-district results

20-3A district champion Rogers was upset by Clifton in the bi-district round in two games, 9-8 and 3-0. Clifton, which was the number four seed in 19-3A, was ranked in the final top 25. Lexington hung close for a while but could not get over the hump in two losses to 19-3A champ Groesbeck, 6-3 and 9-2.

Franklin was the lone team to advance out of 20-3A, shocking two-time defending state champion West in three games, 3-2, 0-11, 5-4. Franklin (18-10) will now play Teague (

17-6) in a one-game series at Madisonville on Thursday (7:00).