Rockwall Heath ends Cleburne's title hopes

By Jarret Johnson

jmjohnson@star-telegram.com

ROUND ROCK -- Rockwall Heath's Jovan Hernandez displayed his full repertoire of baseball skills Friday night en route to being named MVP of the UIL Class 4A state championship at Dell Diamond.

The senior pitcher gave up only one run on four hits and one walk in a complete-game performance to lead the Hawks to a 10-1 victory over Cleburne on Friday in front of 3,017 fans.

Hernandez (10-1) helped his cause at the plate by crushing a 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall with a man on to break a 1-1 tie in the third inning. He finished 2 for 4 at the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored.

"I never backed down, I never let down and I was up to the challenge," Hernandez said. "I'm not the only one, the whole team did a really good job. It's a great feeling to do this in front of this many people."

It didn't matter who took the hill for the Yellow Jackets (30-11) as Heath (36-9) hit them all in racking up 12 hits.

Cleburne's German Hernandez (8-4) made his second start in as many days yet struggled again. After failing to make it out of the second inning on Thursday, Hernandez gave up three earned runs on six hits, with four strikeouts in three innings.

Cash Calahan took over in the fourth but gave up three earned runs in two innings before Cody Sibley got the final two outs in the sixth.

Conner Martyniuk scored Cleburne's lone run on a grounder by Tucker Nolen to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

"They are a really good hitting team and it is what is," Cleburne coach Ross Taylor said. "For some reason we couldn't keep them off-speed and unsettled and they kind of got clued in. I give them all of the credit."

Jarret Johnson, 817-390-7760

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