Allen’s slam pushes Sickles over Plant City

By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor

PLANT CITY – For a brief moment, Sickles’ Superman Caden McDonald was on the ropes. Plant City’s Jackson VanDerZee’s solo home run, a walk, wild pitch and an error by the junior pitcher allowed the Raiders to erase an early Sickles lead. And Plant City’s dugout let the Gryphons starting pitcher hear it.

But on the ropes is not out, and the Raiders dugout quieted a half-inning later when Sickles junior Justin Allen emphatically stomped on the plate after belting a grand slam over the wall in left-center on a curveball, putting the Gryphons back on the path for a 6-2 win on the road.

“I knew I caught it, but I didn’t really think it would go,” Allen said with a grin. “But then I saw the outfielder, and was like, ‘oh, I guess it’s out.’”

McDonald returned to the mound for two more innings of work, striking out seven but not yielding any more damage improving to 6-1 on the season.

“That was a turnaround point for this game, it changed my whole mindset,” McDonald said. “Pitching with a four-run lead is a lot better than a tie game. To see Justin do that was great, it picked everyone up. We had left a lot of runners on, but to have one big swing cash in all those runs was awesome to see.”

Proving to be one of the county’s best table-setters, Sickles junior Connor Vance roped a line-drive, stand-up double into left to start the game, and scored his team’s first run (and his 23rd of the year) three batters later when Thomas Bly singled him in.

Sickles (18-3) added to its lead an inning later when McDonald sent a screamer down the first base line – a shot that somehow was corralled by Raiders first baseman Anthony Palestrini saving at least one more run – but struck well enough to send Cameron Guise home from third. The second-inning knock extended McDonald’s hitting streak to 18 games, but his 1-for-3 night did lower his batting average to ONLY .704 on the year.

He admitted that his current hitting streak and monumental success adds some pressure, but said he makes a specific point to leave all those thoughts in the on-deck circle.

“You have to walk up to the plate, flush those thoughts from your mind and focus on good at-bats,” McDonald said. “Every single pitch, that’s the only thing you can focus on in that moment.”

On the mound, McDonald worked 1-2-3 innings through two, and a fielding error in the third gave the Raiders a runner but proved ultimately inconsequential.

Plant City (12-6) struck back in the fourth as VanDerZee unloaded on a 0-2 pitch, and sent his fifth home run of the season out to left field to lead off the inning. VanDerZee later added a double and is leading the Raiders starters in batting average at .354 on the year.

Up next, senior Colin Shultz drew a walk on a full count before the Raiders catcher was relieved on the bases by courtesy runner Collin Pellicer, who took second on a wild pitch, and scored as Zane Wright’s sac bunt resulted in McDonald uncorking a throw over Bly’s head at third base and allowing the runner to tie the game.

Fryrear said in retrospect he probably should have quieted his dugout a bit after the rally.

“We don’t like to chirp at other teams, but Sickles gave it right back to us,” Fryrear said. “Good teams do that and you can’t chirp at good teams and expect them to just take it.

“I watched Caden McDonald after that home run, and I saw it in his eyes he just decided, ‘I got this boys.’ That guy is a ball player, the talent he has is terrific, but he’s just a straight-up ball player.”

Fryrear said his game plan heading in was to use three pitchers in the game in an inning breakdown of 3/2/2, and though he did employ his three planned hurlers, the Raiders skipper admitted after-the-fact he tweaked the plan slightly staying with starting pitcher Chase Mobley an inning longer than he had planned.

That fourth inning didn’t go well for the impressive sophomore righty, who didn’t appear to have his best fastball on the night, relying instead on a curve and slider – the latter proving a mixed bag including hitting three Sickles batters with it.

The final of those plunked, Hayden Yost started off the top of the fifth, before Bly and Bryce Vance followed with singles and setup the home run from Allen to put the Gryphons in control.

Allen (2-for-3, hit-by-pitch) said after McDonald composed himself and got out of the third, he was focused on putting his pitcher back in command with the lead.

“I’m not used to (McDonald) letting other teams get to him,” Allen said. “He’s kind of stone cold, but it may have got to him for a second. But that was it, he powered through it and got us back in the dugout and I was ready to hit.”

Fryrear admitted his tweak did not work out, but said he was pleased with the effort of his staff on the mound, including Mobley, who finished with four strikeouts.

“I had a game plan, with our three pitchers, but I didn’t stick with it,” Fryrear said. “Mobley started to shove, but when he hit his third batter I should have taken him out. Our pitchers competed, and that is all I can ask for against one of the best hitting teams we’ve seen in a very long time.”

Bly finished off the final frame on the hill, though Plant City did put two aboard in the seventh on a Jace Stines single and another walk issued to Shultz, but a ground ball to third ended the game.

Plant City’s two relievers did keep the Gryphons from padding the lead further, with junior Adan Longoria striking out two in two scoreless innings; and Preston Rogers worked around three walks for a clean seventh with one strikeout.

Sickles picks things back up with a game at Bishop McLaughlin on Tuesday, while the Raiders travel to face Lennard on Monday before a split-series, away-and-home with Durant on Wednesday and Thursday.

(2) Sickles 6
Plant City 2

S    110|040|0 – |6|8|1
PC 000|200|0 – |2|8|2
W – McDonald (6-1); L – Mobley (0-0)
2B – C. Vance (S); Gonzalez, VanDerZee (PC); HR – Allen (S); VanDerZee (PC). Records – S (18-3); PC (12-6).