Yoemen finish own tournament at 3-1
The Cameron Yoemen baseball team hosted an in-season tournament last weekend. Cameron had great success and finished the tournament with a record of 3-1.
The Yoemen played one game on Thursday against the Elgin Wildcats JV team. Cameron was dominant, winning 15-2. The Yoemen got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning with five runs. Braylon Drake scored after tagging up for a sacrifice fly for the first run of the game. Jamie Reyes quickly followed that with an RBI double on a ground ball to left field. Homero Najera hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring one run, and Xavier Gilmon was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, driving in another run.
Cameron scored one run in the second inning, then six more runs in the third inning. Drake singled on a ground ball to center field, scoring two runs. Kason Goolsby singled to center field, scoring one run. Noah Vega scored one run on an RBI groundout, and Kallin Koehl singled with a ground ball to the shortstop scoring another one run. The Yoemen tallied 13 hits in the game. Jamie Reyes went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead Cameron in hits. Cameron also ran wild on the base paths, collecting six stolen bases for the game.
Yvanni Cerros earned the win on the mound for the Yoemen. He gave up three hits and zero runs over three innings, striking out seven and walking one. Jaydon Mendoza appeared in two innings of relief for Cameron. He allowed two runs on three hits, one strikeout, and no walks.
The Yoemen played two games on Friday, the first game was against the Smithville Tigers. Cameron defeated Smithville 4-2. Cameron scored first in the bottom of the first inning with three runs. The Tigers responded with two runs in the third inning, then Cameron answered with an insurance run in the sixth inning to make the score 4-2.
Braylon Drake started on the mound first for the Yoemen. He was excellent and gave up three hits and two runs (one earned) over four innings, striking out four and walking two. Kason Goolsby threw three innings of shutout ball in relief of Drake and was outstanding. The lefty allowed no runs on two hits, striking out two and walking two.
The second game was a matchup with the Giddings Buffaloes. The Yoemen were victorious, winning 5-4. Starting pitcher, Kallin Koehl, started slowly, allowing three runs in the first inning, two of them on bases loaded walks. Cameron responded in the second inning with a booming 2 run RBI triple by Mason Kuzel to make the score 3-2. The Yoemen then captured the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the third inning. Brody Acguirre hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring one run, then Jaydon Mendoza scored on a passed ball that got by the catcher to make the score 4-3. Braylon Drake helped the Yoemen add on another run in the fourth inning. He started with an infield single, then stole second base, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Yvanni Cerros, then came home to score on a wild pitch that got by the catcher.
Koehl and Mason Kuzel each collected two hits for the Yoemen. Cameron also ran wild on the base paths once again, with six stolen bases in the game. The Yoemen defense was also very stout and didn’t commit a single error in the field. Kallin Koehl earned the win on the mound for Cameron. The lefty gave up two hits and four runs (three earned) over six innings, striking out seven and walking seven. Homero Najera collected the save, allowing no runs with no hits, and no walks.
Cameron played one final game on Saturday against the Bridge City Cardinals. The Yoemen were defeated, losing 6-2.
Cameron remained home on Tuesday, March 5, to host the Wortham Bulldogs. They demolished Wortham, winning 17-1 in five innings.
Up next for the Yoemen, they will participate in an in-season tournament hosted by Franklin. They will play two games on Thursday: Smithville at 10 a.m. and Gatesville at 12:30 p.m. They will play two games on Friday: Taylor at 3 p.m. and New Waverly at 5 p.m.