The best baseball game I ever covered was also one of the shortest.

Good thing, because it was in suburban Austin on a weeknight, and I didn’t make it back to the Times-Review until 3 the next morning.

It was 30 years ago — call this the anniversary, give or take a sunrise — that the Yellow Jackets defeated Westlake 3-0 in a pitching duel between two future pros, Cleburne’s Eddie Pruitt and Westlake’s Calvin Schiraldi.

Pruitt, a crafty lefthander, went the distance and faced 24 batters. He allowed one hit and struck out 11, mostly on sharp-breaking curveballs.

Schiraldi was almost as deadly, striking out 13 batters in the first five innings. In the sixth, at least one Yellow Jacket was able to time his smoking hot fastball. Kelly Sarchet lined a double off the centerfield fence to drive in Perry Rosser and end a 0-0 stalemate.

Thankfully, I was already accustomed to travel that year.

I opened the season with the Yellow Jackets at the Uvalde Tournament, sharing a ride with one of my favorite Yellow Jacket players, Albert de la Guardia.

Head coach Jay McCarty had such confidence in de la Guardia’s baseball savvy that he had him coach third base.

Soon after the Uvalde trip, I enjoyed an Amtrak trip to Chicago, where I spotted no celebrities but saw Wrigley Field for the first time.

With or without me, the Yellow Jackets continued to win, marching through district undefeated.

They came from behind to beat Waco High 2-1 in the 13-4A zone playoff. Then came Westlake in bi-district.

Cleburne won two of three to advance.

Hurricane season was on the horizon as Cleburne made plans to travel to Bridge City, near Beaumont, to open a quarterfinals series.

I was scheduled to fly to Beaumont on Texas International airline — remember them? — with Luther Wilson. We never left the runway.

The first game May 30 was rained out. So the two teams agreed to a three-game series at Brenham May 31 and June 2.

In the opener, a 6-1 Cleburne win, Pruitt overcame swarms of migrating insects to scatter three hits. He also tripled home the three deciding runs in the fifth.

In the second game, Allen Lockett pitched a four-hitter, Perry Ginn blasted a three-run homer, and Cleburne won 12-1 to advance to the state tournament.

Pruitt spun a two-hitter in semifinals 5-2 win over Pecos. In the second, Rosser reached on an error, Sarchet walked, and Rick Longoria bunted them over. Rosser scored on a balk, and Scotty Self singled home Sarchet.

In the fourth, Sarchet singled, Tony Potts walked, and Self tripled them home. Self scored on future Longhorn Spike Owen’s ground ball.

Cleburne’s championship opponent, De Soto, was as hot as the Yellow Jackets.

The Eagles had defeated Mount Pleasant in area and South San Antonio West in the semifinals.

In a 2-1 title win over Cleburne, De Soto took an early 1-0 lead. Self tied it in the third with a triple. DeSoto scored an unearned run in the bottom of the inning. That was the extent of the scoring.

Lockett pitched the first three and two-thirds and gave up two hits.

Pruitt relieved and fanned the first four Eagles he faced.

Yellow Jacket hitters could never solve De Soto ace Paul Ewell.

The ’79 Yellow Jackets finished 30-4-1. They were a team of stars.

Cleburne likely had the best four-man pitching rotation in the state with Pruitt, Lockett, Louis Palafox and Rosser.

Palafox had recorded a complete-game win over 5A Arlington High early in the season.

Those Yellow Jackets are remembered by many. They also remember each other.

“Never once did we take the field thinking we were going to lose,” Rosser, now a Cleburne businessman, said. “We weren’t borderline cocky. We were cocky. We knew we were going to win. For the most part, we all got along well. The core group ran together.”

He remembers the game at Westlake against Schiraldi. Actually, he remembers it a lot better than I do.

“I remember how hard Schiraldi threw, hardest I ever saw,” Rosser said. “I remember being really nervous standing in there against him the first time. [Before the first run] I hit a ground ball that the second baseman bobbled. I stole second on about the second pitch to Kelly [Sarchet]. Then he hit the shot to center.”

The loss to De Soto is less of a good memory.

“Our bats fell asleep,” Rosser said. “They threw a guy with a slow breaking ball, and we’d been facing pitchers who threw in the upper 80s and 90s. They threw the perfect pitcher at us. Alan [Lockett] pitched a heck of a game. Any time the other team scores two runs, you ought to win. We were averaging 10 runs a game. But we only scored one. That’s mind-boggling to me.

“I was heartbroken. I still think about that game.”

My attachment to that team was primarily off the field.

On occasion, it extended onto the field, such as when I pitched batting practice.

Rosser recalled the day I brought a Colorado State T-shirt to practice one day and offered it to anyone who could take me over the fence.

They were going to have to supply the power. I didn’t throw hard enough to break glass.

Rosser never took the bat off his shoulder. I hit him in the side with a knuckleball. Rosser won the prize by default.

“Coach McCarty gave me the T-shirt.”

Pete Kendall can be reached at reporter@trcle.com or you may comment on this article on our Web site, cleburnetimesreview.com