Guise’s home run starts 8-1 win for Sickles at Newsome
Sickles junior Cameron Guise is escorted back to the dugout by his celebrating teammates, after his first-inning, two-run home run to left.
By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor
LITHIA – Sickles got all it needed from a favorable wind helping a fly ball from junior Cameron Guise skirt the fence in left field for a homer in the first inning as the Gryphons held Newsome to just three hits in an 8-1 victory.
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Senior ace Caden McDonald took the first of his four walks at the plate with two outs in the opening frame, and was replaced by speed-up runner Carter Christy (two runs), who promptly stole second, setting up Guise who worked a 2-1 count, before turning on a fastball.
“He kept missing and I was ahead in the count, so it let me look for a fastball,” Guise said. “At first I didn’t really think (it was going out), but I saw the leftfielder keep going back and I knew I had the wind. About halfway down (to first), I said, ‘oh, that’s gonna go out.’”
Guise takes a quick look as his two-run homer sails toward left field.
McDonald toed the rubber for Sickles (19-2), going four innings in a scrappy start, where despite not having his best stuff, the UCF-signed righty struck out six, allowed one run on one hit, but did tie his season-high by issuing five walks.
Sickles senior Caden McDonald earned his seventh win of the season with six strikeouts in four innings of work.
McDonald worked around a pair of base runners in the first and second inning, before loading the bases in the third on a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Newsome (13-7) senior Tony Marrero would cut the Gryphons lead in half with an RBI fielder’s choice scoring Luke Peterson (who had walked, but also had a double in the game), for the Wolves lone run.
Newsome senior Tony Marrero drives in the Wolves lone run of the game with an RBI groundout in the third.
McDonald would retire the Wolves in order in the fourth to wrap-up his night on the mound and improve to 7-1 on the year.
“That just shows you, that even when (Caden) doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s still able to shut teams down,” Guise said of McDonald. “He’s a bulldog and he finds ways to get out of it.”
On the mound to start for the Wolves, Brady Carroll pitched a strong four innings after giving up the home run to Guise, striking out seven and allowing just three hits.
Wolves senior Brady Carroll allowed just three hits and struck out seven in his four innings on the mound.
The bottom of the fourth had some distractions as Gryphons coach Eric Luksis was remanded to the dugout after an illegal pitch was called by the umpire. But rather than shaking Sickles and bolstering Newsome, the kerfuffle coincided with an ugly inning for the Wolves where the Gryphons hung a five-spot and pushed the game out of reach.
“We’re just here to play baseball, whatever is going on around us doesn’t matter,” Guise said. “We are just playing against the ball, we stay on us and control what we can control.”
Junior 1B Wade Walton fields a ball for an out in the first inning.
Sickles loaded the bases in the top of the fifth on a walk to Connor Vance, a double from Hayden Yost, and an intentional pass to McDonald, and a passed ball and a pair of wild pitches plated runs as two more walks onboarded runners.
Sophomore Jordan Yost continued to tear things up at the plate pushing the lead to six runs with a two-run single into centerfield. The sophomore Yost has driven in 8-of-his-13 runs on the season, and collected nine hits in the last six wins by the Gryphons.
“It was a little bit of a slow start for me as I tried to build some confidence and see the ball a little better,” Yost said. “I’m happy to help the team win the last few games. I knew fastballs were coming and that I had some RBI opportunities, so I just had to put the best swing on them that I could.”
Gryphons Sophomore Jordan Yost claps on first base after driving in a pair in the fifth inning.
Senior Bryce Vance tacked on a run in the sixth, sending a groundball fielder’s choice to second base to score Hayden Yost.
Guise (two strikeouts), Nick Hartley (no hits), and Adrian Cartaya (one hit), pitched scoreless innings of relief for the Gryphons, and Luke Fikar was 2-for-3 with a double in the win.
Senior Adrian Cartaya worked a scoreless inning of relief to wrap up the Sickles win.
Leo Astacio singled on a line drive to center for the Wolves in the seventh, but Guise (who had returned to third base after his one inning on the mound) ended the game by starting a double-play.
Sickles continues its gas-guzzling road stretch with a trip to Lennard on Saturday, and visits Durant next Tuesday, while Newsome hosts Robinson on Saturday.
Carter Christy races home on a wild pitch, scoring the second of his two runs in the win.
#1 Sickles 8, Newsome 1
S 200|051|0 – |8|6|0
N 001|000|0 – |1|3|0
W – McDonald (7-1); L – Carroll;
2B – Fikar, H. Yost (S); Peterson (N); HR – Guise (S). Records – S (19-2); N (13-7).
