Dial, McDonald spark Sickles 9-1 win over Bulls
Sickles senior Caden McDonald is greeted at the plate by Hayden Yost after McDonald’s third inning home run.
By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor
VALRICO – Be ready.
Every role-player for the entirety of team sports’ existence has heard those two words. And on a team with as many veteran returners as Sickles had entering the season, those words may have seemed a longshot for someone outside of the starting lineup.
“This is the deepest team we’ve ever had, so competition is the equalizer,” Gryphons head coach Eric Luksis said. “We compete against each other every day, and that next guy has been told to be ready. Because when you are given your opportunity you have to make the most of it.”
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Three games ago, that opportunity came for Gryphons junior Jacob Dial, and across the stretch of starts, he has batted .500, with two doubles, five RBI and a run scored – adding two of those ribbies on a first-inning single at Bloomingdale on Thursday in a 9-1, Sickles win.
Sickles junior Jacob Dial drives in a pair with a single to center in the first inning.
“It’s now Jacob’s turn,” Luksis said. “We’ve had a few guys who have gone through that and haven’t taken that spot, but we put him in the lineup a few games ago and he’s been great.
“That’s what it takes, the preparation of being ready, being okay to work while you wait … he’s been making the most of his shot.”
Sickles (12-2) got a quick start with Connor Vance slashing the first of his three hits in the win to leadoff the game, and eventually scoring on a bases loaded wild pitch. Dial would stretch out first-inning lead lining the two-run single into centerfield.
“I’ve been fortunate enough and I’ve kept it simple, knowing what my job in the lineup is,” Dial said. “Take advantage when I get a shot. It wasn’t the prettiest swing, but it’s two RBI, so it gets the job done.”
Gryphons assistant coach Bob Shaw congratulates Dial after his hit.
Apparently, Luksis’ preparedness sermon made in impact on Dial.
“Coach always tells us to be ready, because you’ll never know when your name is going to be called,” Dial said. “My name has been called, and I’ve been fortunate to come through here lately. The team is just clicking, we’ve been attacking early and it seems to be working.”
With the crooked number on the board, Gryphons senior Caden McDonald took to the mound and mowed through the Bulls lineup. The righty worked swiftly, allowing just one hit and walking a pair in his five innings on the mound, mixing in his curveball and slider and finishing with six strikeouts.
“Curveballs and sliders were the key,” McDonald said. “When we faced these guys last year (a 9-4 Bloomingdale win) I kind of got shelled, and they were fastball-hunting – even when I was hitting my spots … so the big thing tonight was keeping them off-balance.”
Caden McDonald delivers a pitch during his fourth win of the season.
McDonald missed a few games after taking a line drive shot to the jaw in his second mound start. Though scary, McDonald shows no ill-effects from the comebacker that sent him to the hospital, but has a new appreciation being back on track on the field.
“I even joke about it now, but I know I’m really lucky,” he said, “and now, I’m just savoring every moment because you never know when something is going to happen.”
Bloomingdale shortstop Izzy Perez throws for an out in the fourth. Perez had the lone single off of McDonald.
And if the early-season injury doesn’t bring up any apprehension even last-minute notice that his future pitching coach at the University of Central Florida, Mike Maroth, would be in attendance, couldn’t seem to fluster the ace. Though he admitted he was glad to show up in front of the first-year Knights assistant coach.
“I’d rather have had no notice at all,” McDonald said with a laugh. “First impression right there, he’s never seen me pitch before, so, it was nice to show him what I could do and I’m glad it went the way it did.”
And if McDonald’s fourth win on the mound wasn’t impressive enough, he bolstered his lead with a first-pitch, bullet-train solo-shot blasted over the wall in left field. The round-tripper was his fourth of the year, and his third in as many games.
“That ball was hit well,” Luksis noted as briefly as it took for the shot to exit the field.
McDonald also added an RBI line drive double to the wall in deepest center to his night’s stat sheet.
Cameron Guise was 2-for-3 with a run scored, and pitched the final two innings for the Gryphons, allowing one run on three hits, with one strikeout; and Bryce Vance (run) and West Durda (RBI) each had pinch hits in the seventh.
Cameron Guise heads toward third on his way to scoring in the first inning.
Bloomingdale (9-4) got on the board with a run in the sixth as Vincent Dinzeo drove in a run with a line drive single to left.
Bloomingdale catcher Vincent Dinzeo dives in to the plate to tag out a runner after a throw home from centerfielder Dawson Rankin.
Sickles host Chamberlain for a game Saturday morning at 10am, while the Bulls will host Durant next Tuesday.
⚾⚾⚾⚾
#2 Sickles 9, #8 Bloomingdale 1
S 301|022|1 – |9|13|2
B 000|001|0 – |1|4|0
W – McDonald (4-1); L – Magadan (3-1)
2B – McDonald (S); HR – McDonald (S). Records – S (12-2); B (9-4).
