McDonald, Christy lead Sickles past Steinbrenner

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

March 1, 2022

LUTZ – Every time Steinbrenner cut the (No.6) Sickles lead the visiting team stretched it back out before decisively unloading with five-run sixth to put the Warriors away for good – the Gryphons taking this early-season showdown between the two former district rivals, 12-4.

Sickles’ Caden McDonald wasn’t quite as dominant on the mound as he was in his opening start against Riverview last week, but his efforts at the plate continued to stay rip-roaring hot as the junior had his third, multi-hit showing in as many games doubling twice in a 3-for-4 night, with two RBI and a run scored (also two additional runs scored on his behalf by courtesy runner AJ Sawmiller in the win).

“It takes a collective effort to put up that many runs, and we are going to need that to continue all season,” McDonald said. “Everyone is getting that job done right now, productive at-bats, and putting the ball in play.”

McDonald is now 8-for-11 at the plate to start the year with six RBI.

“He’s going nuts right now – he’s just on fire,” Sickles junior Carter Christy said of McDonald. “He needs to keep that up for us, because it just gets the rest of us excited out there.”

With the Gryphons out to an early lead, Steinbrenner (1-2) chipped away, getting a solo home run from Evan Cuervo, but then saw Sickles extend its lead again. The Warriors again rallied in the home-fifth as Jake Vildostegui scored on a passed ball and Cayden Hessemyer (2-for-3, run) singled in a second run to cut the Gryphons lead to two. Senior Jace Druschel was 2-for-4 for the Warriors in the loss.

But from there it was all Sickles (3-0) as Justin Allen gave his team another spark, homering to center, followed later in the inning when Christy (3-for-4, two RBI) doubled in Luke Fikar, who had reached on a perfectly placed, two-out bunt base hit.

“We are going to rely heavily on our offense this season,” Gryphons coach Eric Luksis said. “We have a very deep lineup one-through-nine, and we feel really good about the guys we have hitting, but we know that no lead is safe.

“So, that is the message, never let up and score as many runs as you can.”

The Gryphons piled on as Connor Vance (2-for-5) and Hayden Yost singled to set up one of McDonald’s two RBI doubles, and Thomas Bly (hit-by-pitch), Avery Bishop (walk), Fikar (RBI groundout) and Christy (single) all drove in runs in the five-run sixth.

“They definitely tried to claw back the whole game, they were some hard outs,” McDonald said of Steinbrenner. “But that big inning sealed the deal, put us in control, and let us go for the gut.”

Christy said he likes what he’s seeing from the offense right now, and hopes the current trend – Sickles has scored 31 runs in three games – continues.

“We needed to keep putting runs on the board all night, and we did,” Christy said. “It was kind of a laser show. Justin Allen with the bomb, I had a couple of hits, Caden with a couple of great hits, that’s what we needed – we need to keep hitting, and hitting, and hitting.”

Senior Kyle Timko relieved McDonald in the fourth and earned his first win, and Vinny Vigil came on in relief to close out the fifth inning with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball, before giving way Carter LeBlanc, who finished the game off with one strikeout in his inning of work.

On Thursday, the Gryphons host East Bay, while the Warriors travel to Hillsborough (2-1).

(6) Sickles 12
Steinbrenner 4

For complete coverage of this game, come back to our site Tuesday afternoon.

Si 202|026|0 – |12|13|1
St 001|112|0 – |4|6|2
W – Timko (1-0); L – Daniels (0-1)
2B – McDonald 2, Christy (Si); HR – Allen (Si); Cuervo (St). Records – Si (3-0); St (1-2).