Yoemen end Yoe Tournament play at 2-2

The Cameron Yoemen baseball team hosted an in-season tournament over the weekend from the fourth through the sixth. 

Their first game came against the New Waverly Bulldogs on Thursday, where they defeated the Bulldogs 2-1 via a walk off (last at bat score). 

Adam Cardona (1) pitched a shutout first inning. Dillan Akin (4) hit a single, Jaidyn Sanchez (11) came in for him as a pinch runner. The Yoemen could not bring him home, as the next two batters popped out and lined out. 

Cameron gave up the first run of the game on a line drive to left field that allowed a runner to score. On the same play, the left fielder, Brannon McCall (6) didn’t give up on the play and threw out another batter at third base who was trying to advance in the second inning, keeping the score at 1-0. The Yoemen got out of the inning on a fly out to end the inning with the score still at 1-0. 

The Yoemen tried to answer back in the bottom of the third inning but was unable to do so. Adam Cardona gave up a leadoff walk in the third inning. He then struck out the next batter. After striking out the batter, the catcher, Akin, caught the runner stealing second base for a well-executed double play. This was the second clutch play of the game by the defense. 

“It gave us a chance to win the ball game at the end,” Coach Hector Delgadillo said. “We kept it close, Adam gave us a good start, and we got it the next guy. We kept the game close and that’s what we ask of our kids, and to play defense, and it’s winning in the end and that’s what we do. I’m glad our guys hung in there and stayed through it.” 

The top of the third inning ended on a groundout for New Waverly. Then Cameron came to bat and had more chances with runners on first and second base in the third inning but couldn’t send them home. Adam Cardona continued to keep his team in the game and pitched another shutout in the fourth inning. 

In Cameron’s next at bat, they continued their struggles on offense and was unable to score in the fourth inning on two groundouts and a strikeout. Adam Cardona held on strong with another shutout inning in the fifth inning, even after giving up a one out walk. The Yoemen made a pitching change in the sixth inning. Tracer Lopez (3) came in for Adam Cardona. Cardona did not have the prettiest outing with two runs on three hits with five walks, but he gave his team a chance in the end. 

“I was very impressed,” Delgadillo said. “We kept talking and I’m glad he was able to work out of it. I think that’s a good sign and I know it’s early somewhat but for him to work out of it that way, that was a good job on his end.” 

Lopez had a fantastic sixth inning as he struck out all three batters. The Yoemen offense failed to get base runners in the sixth inning. Lopez kept his team in the game and pitched a shutout seventh inning. 

Landon Greene (9) started the bottom of the seventh inning with a leadoff walk. The late inning heroics began when the Yoemen got an additional base runner when Adam Cardona was hit by a pitch.  After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Marino Cardona (15), Bobby Borgas (7) hit an RBI (runs batted in) single to tie the game, he then stole second shortly after. Armando Reyes (2) saved the day with a base hit for a walk off single to win 2-1.

“We were just trying to get guys on base,” Delgadillo said. “Once we got a runner on base, we were going to look to try to move them over, hit by pitch, tried to get a bunt down, couldn’t, but then again, we were able to get that little hit to squeeze through, and it just kind of gave us life. I’m glad the bottom of our lineup came through when they needed to. The inning before, we had our middle lineup and didn’t produce anything so I’m glad our bottom half did.” 

Their second game would come on Friday as they would take on the Gateway Gators. 

“I think defensively we were OK,” Delgadillo said. “I think it starts with the guy on the mound, but we should be good tomorrow with that. Offensively, I think we’re going to have to really have a better approach. I saw we were swinging at a lot of pitches that we shouldn’t have out of the zone. And that’s something we try to talk to as far as giving us a quality AB. Quality ABs is what we talk about.”

The Cameron Yoemen fell to the Gateway Gators 8-2 on Friday in five innings. The Yoemen struggled to contain the high-powered offense of the Gators. Gateway took the lead on a single in the first inning. Gateway scored three runs in both the third and fourth inning. 

The Yoemen were only able to score in the third inning, where they scored both of their runs. Their scoring came off of a sacrifice fly by McCall to send Lopez home and an RBI single by Adam Cardona to send Carlos Bolivar (8) home. Reyes took the loss for Cameron. He pitched two and two-thirds innings, allowing six hits and four runs while striking out three, but didn’t allow any walks. 

Braylan Drake (13) pitched an inning and a third, allowing one run on two hits and a walk. Borgas also pitched an inning, allowing three runs on one hit and five walks. Cameron hoped to avenge this performance on Saturday as they took on the Troy Trojans. 

Cameron’s third game came against the Troy Trojans on Saturday, who they lost to 4-1. Greene allowed the first run of the game on a wild pitch. He avoided another early first inning scare with a runner on third but got out of the jam with a two out groundout. Cameron started the first inning with a leadoff walk by Lopez, and then stole second base. This would lead to a score on a groundout and a throwing error by Troy. 

The inning would end with Cameron grounding into a double play. Greene allowed a leadoff walk, then would give up a line drive putting Troy in the lead 2-1. The top of the second inning ended on a pop out. The Yoemen started the bottom of the second inning with a leadoff double by Adam Cardona, who was thrown trying to steal third base. The inning ended on a strikeout by Braylan Drake (13), leaving the score at 2-1. 

The Yoemen kept Troy from scoring as Greene pitched a shutout third inning. The Yoemen in there next at bat had a one out double but failed to score. Greene allowed a walk but finished the inning with keeping them scoreless in the inning. Cameron was unable to score in the fourth inning. Greene came out for another inning and was able to pitch another shout-out inning in the fifth. Cameron had a chance to score with a runner on third base but couldn’t finish. McCall saved the sixth inning by helping on a groundout that bounced off Marino Cardona and was able to throw the runner out at first. Cameron couldn’t find a way to score in the sixth inning. Cameron allowed two runs on a sacrifice bunt for a 4-1 deficit in the seventh inning. Cameron would be defeated 4-1.

Cameron finished the tournament on a win against the Lake Belton Broncos 3-1. 

“It was huge,” Delgadillo said. “I thought we played well enough to win that first game, and unfortunately, we had a big inning where we gave up two more runs to extend their lead and that’s not what we wanted. We had a talk, and it’s all about the confidence level and the focus level. And I think it’s good to end the day on a win and the boys did a great job.” 

McCall started off the game with a clean first inning. Greene got the scoring started with an RBI double to send Lopez home for first run of the game. McCall followed that up with an RBI double for 2-0 lead. The final out of the first inning for the Yoemen ended on a groundout.

“That was good, especially just scoring one the first game and not really being able to push another,” Delgadillo said. “It’s always good when we can score and draw first. It gives our pitcher a little bit of cushion to play with, and especially for us offensively, we can be a little bit more aggressive offensively.” 

The next inning, McCall got out of a bases loaded pitching jam to end the second inning with a strikeout. Cameron had a chance to add to the lead with a double by Drake, and an infield single by Akin, but couldn’t bring them home. The Yoemen allowed the Broncos first run on an errant throw to third base allowing the runner to make the score 2-1. 

The third inning for Lake Belton ended on a fly out. The Yoemen couldn’t respond to that scored run by the Broncos in the third inning. McCall pitched a shutout fourth inning. Cameron failed to score in the fourth inning with 2 outs and runners on base with a foul tip strikeout. McCall avoided a scare with runners on second and third in the fifth inning but was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout. Greene got on base with a leadoff single. McCall responded to that scare in the bottom of the fifth inning by reaching first base on a throwing error, where Bolivar came in as a pinch runner for him. 

Marino Cardona helped score in a run off of a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead. McCall came back out and pitched a shutout sixth inning. The Yoemen had hoped to score some more insurance runs but failed to score in the sixth inning. Delgadillo made a pitching change, Lopez came in for McCall to finish the game, which he did successfully by throwing two strikeouts and a groundout to end the game.  

“I think a lot of it was he was just throwing strikes. He pounded the zone with his fastball, and his curveball was working pretty good,” Delgadillo said. “I think he had two pitches for strikes, and that’s all we can ask, and he threw a lot of strikes.” 

Cameron came out victorious 3-1. With this win, the Yoemen would come out of this tournament with a 2-2 record.