Yoe advances to semifinals in Franklin, falls hard to Lions in district

Entering their final tournament of the season, Cameron was in need of a little confidence boost before the long stretch of 20-3A games. The Yoemen had gone winless in their own tournament and had fallen to Jarrell in the district opener.

In 2017, Cameron, which was ranked inside the top 25 at the time, managed to go undefeated in the Franklin tournament before having the championship versus number one Lago Vista called off in the fourth inning due to weather.

The Yoemen fell just one-short of matching that finish in 2018, advancing to the semifinals of the 32-team bracket before falling to #13 Salado in dramatic fashion, 9-8.

Cameron trailed 7-2 after 3 innings, but made a late push to make the game interesting. The Yoemen scored 3 runs in the 6th and then 3 more in the 7th to bring the game to 9-8. Bryce Brashear stood on third base with one out, but Salado proceeded to stall out the time limit and end the game there on the drop-dead tournament rule.

“With tournament play it’s just part of the game and if we had taken care of business earlier and limited those runs by playing a little better defense, the it gives us a better chance to win,” said Yoe baseball coach Hector Delgadillo. “The boys never gave up. It is a time limit, but I’m glad the way we came out and fought.”

Down 9-5 entering the 6th, Yoe outfielder Garrett Roeder started off things with a triple to right field. Rick Fuentes had an RBI groundout to score Roeder before Luke Greene reached on an error by the first baseman. 9-hole hitter Kadrian Hammond walked before Brashear shot another triple back to right, scoring both runners.

Earlier in the day, Cameron tied College Station JV 5-5, but advanced to the semifinals on a third tiebreaker.

The Yoemen took advantage of two Cougar errors in the first inning to build a 3-0 lead. That would last until the middle innings when College Station put up 2 in the 4th and 3 more in the 5th to take their first lead, 5-3.

With two outs and no one on in the bottom half of the 5th, Roeder doubled to center before Fuentes and Greene walked to load the bases. Hammond singled on a soft liner to center, scoring two to knot up the contest.

To get to the quarterfinals, the Yoemen won two games on Friday against Miles (11-1) and then over 5A Georgetown East View (4-3).

In the opening win over Miles, Cameron used a pair of 5-spots in the 4th and 5th innings to

secure the run-rule win. Alex Alonso was 2-3 with 3 RBI and Rick Fuentes was 1-2 with 2 RBI. Zack Andress (2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2K) and Alonso (3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) combined for the strong effort on the mound.

In game two, Cameron built a 4-1 lead after 2 innings and held off East View late for the 4-3 win. Bryce Brashear picked up the win with 6 innings of 6-hit ball. Alonso closed it out in the final frame.

It was a feel-good finish for the Yoemen which sat a 2-1-1.

‘Overall, I felt we did really well coming off of last week’s tournament and then that loss to Jarrell kind of stung,” said Delgadillo. “We went back to practice and went back to hammering fundamentals. We got in the cage and took a lot of swings and I think it showed this week.”

Yoe falls to Franklin

The positive momentum gained at the tournament did not travel back with the Yoemen to Franklin on Tuesday in a 11-1, 6-inning loss. Cameron fell to 0-2 in 20-3A while Franklin improved to 2-0. The Lions had previously defeated Rogers in their district opener, 10-0.

After a scoreless first inning, the Lions scored 2 in the 2nd and 2 more in the 3rd off of Yoe starting pitcher Jason Llanas.

Llanas took the loss, tossing 4.2 innings, giving up 9 hits, 7 runs, while striking out 5.

Llanas reached base in the 5th, scoring Hammond from third on an error. The bases were loaded after an Alonso walk and Roeder single, but they were all left stranded.

The Lions scored 5 in the fifth and then 2 more in the 6th to end it with the mercy rule.

Franklin’s Nick Lopez was crafty, scattering 6 hits over 5 innings, and only gave up the 1 unearned run while striking out 5.

The Yoe JV improved to 2-0 in district with a 12-7 win over Franklin.

Cameron will host Lexington in another day game on Thursday. JV is slated for 12:00 with the varsity to follow. Cameron will also host Rogers on Tuesday with games at 5:00 and 7:30.