So it was only appropriate that when Rockdale, the Yoemen’s biggest rival, came to town, those balls that normally found a glove instead landed early and often in the outfield grass.
Yoe smacked 15 hits and avenged an earlier loss by ripping Rockdale 13-3 in five innings Tuesday night for the Yoemen’s first District 18-3A victory this season.
“As of lately, everything we hit, we hit it hard but it goes right to people,” said Yoe coach Coby Richards, who is 3-1 in his baseball career and 1-1 in football against Rockdale coach Jarad Richards, his older brother. “Tonight, everything finally started hitting the holes.”
The Yoemen improved to 11-9 overall and 1-5 in District 18-3A, while Rockdale, which was tied for third place coming into Tuesday, fell to 14-9, 3-4.
The Tigers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Yoe responded in a hurry.
Leadoff hitter Zach Young and Colton Gommert, who came in batting .544, both singled. Jason Sigler brought home Young when he reached on a two-base error by center fielder Shelby Leshikar. Thomas Limmer drew a walk and Jordan Beckhusen singled in Gommert and Sigler to take a 3-2 lead.
Limmer eventually scored on an error, Beckhusen came home on Nick Zajicek’s single and the Yoemen led 5-2.
“That was very, very big because Rockdale is a team that plays on momentum. And the more momentum they have, the better they are,” Coby Richards said. “We talked about if we let them in the game they’re going to make it hard on us. If we can get on top and keep them down, it will make it easy for us to get the win.”
Yoe’s offense kept coming.
In the second, Young doubled, Gommert singled and Sigler had an RBI double. Limmer executed a suicide squeeze play and Beckhusen smacked his fifth home run of the season to right-center for a 9-2 lead.
In the next inning, Limmer delivered the big blow, a bases-loaded two-run single to push the lead to 12-2.
“We got hit hard and quick,” said Jarad Richards, whose team has lost four in a row after a 3-0 start in district. “Cameron is good. They’ve just been snakebit. They could do that to anybody. We had a few errors early, but they just hit the ball. We were just the unfortunate ones and the first ones that Yoe got the ball to fall their way.”
Yoe starting pitcher Jake Burks allowed 16 hits in a 14-4 loss to Rockdale on March 28. Eighteen days later, he regained his form and allowed five hits and one earned run against the Tigers.
“The first inning he looked a little nervous,” Coby Richards said of his ace pitcher. “About the second or third inning, he got in his groove and he was working all four pitches (fastball, curveball, slider and changeup). He was throwing them all for strikes and hitting his spots with all four of them. And our defense played for him tonight.”
Added Jarad Richards: “Last time we faced him we got 16 hits off him because he wasn’t locating. He really didn’t throw much for strikes other than the fastball and we were able to sit on that pitch. He just tore us up with the slider and we weren’t disciplined enough to lay off of it.”
Young, who scored four runs, and Gommert, whose run-scoring double ended the game, each went 4-for-4. Beckhusen went 2-for-3 and Zajicek finished 2-for-2.
Leshikar had two of Rockdale’s five hits.
“The seniors stepped up big tonight and they treated it like it was their last game and in essence it was their last against Rockdale,” Coby Richards said. “Cameron versus Rockdale . . . what else can you say? It’s a big rivalry and even though these kids know each other, they take pride in beating each other.
“My seniors were very down last time we played Rockdale. They had a lot of animosity about that game so they wanted some revenge and they got it. Every senior I had tonight played a great game.”
Yoe will play at Liberty Hill on Friday, while Rockdale is off before it plays at Liberty Hill next Tuesday to finish the regular season.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
