Yost, McDonald homer to power Sickles back to final four

Sickles senior Hayden Yost points to the sky after his first-inning home run kicked off a 15-hit night for the Gryphons.

By Jarrett Guthrie, Editor

TAMPA – It wasn’t the end of work day Lee Yost had planned on Tuesday, as the father of two Sickles baseball players fielded a mid-afternoon call from his eldest son and was set to an unplanned task. Gryphons senior Hayden Yost went to the batting cage adjacent to the field for some pregame work and sheared off the knob of his 2023 DeMarini Voodoo bat just hours before Sickles was set to host Gaither in a Class 6A-Region 3 final – a spot in the state semifinals on the line.

The father took to the phones, first trying local sporting goods stores in search of a replacement and not having much luck – finally tracking down the stick all the way out in Brandon.

For more photos from this game, click here.

The trip, it turned out, was worth the drive as Hayden Yost rewarded his father’s efforts blasting a two-run homer as Sickles dispatched Gaither, 7-1, advancing to the state semis for the second-straight season.

“I came up here earlier to take a few swings before the game and the knob of my bat fell off,” Hayden Yost said. “So, it was a call to Dad, and he came up clutch with the same bat … first at-bat, I took BP with it and felt fine with it.”

Hayden Yost sends his homer out.

Connor Vance led off the home-first with a single, bringing up Yost who worked a long AB, torching the sixth pitch he saw 350-plus feet over the wall – but foul. The senior and University of Florida signee admitted after the game, he wasn’t confident he’d see another fastball. But two pitches later got exactly that and sent it souring to right field.

“I had to calm the body down (after the foul ball) – I was really hoping that one would go out (fair),” Yost said. “I knew I had put a good swing on one, so I had to get my mind right and I was able to do that on the next fastball.”

Four pitches later it was Gryphon’s Goliath, Caden McDonald’s turn, as the righty connected on his county-leading 11th homer to right-center to go back-to-back and spot his team a three-run lead early.

Senior Caden McDonald was 3-for-4 with a homer, RBI double and RBI single in the win.

Monday night, the Gryphons snuck by Lennard with a 2-1 win with a seventh-inning run, so a pair of three-run innings to start the game was the start head coach Eric Luksis was looking for.

“That’s baseball, right?” Luksis said. “You wake up one day and the ball doesn’t roll your way, and the next day it can. We just flushed yesterday as quickly as we could. Today was a new game, a brand-new team, a new approach and when we put up that three-spot early, it really settled the nerves.”

Gaither head coach Nelson North came to scout Monday’s Lennard-Sickles game after the weather spared the Cowboys from a rainout, but he said he saw a different Gryphons team at the plate on Tuesday.

“Last night I didn’t think they swung it very well, tonight, I don’t know what happened but they must have eaten something different this morning because they swung them tonight,” North said. “But hey, they are a helluva team. They’re coached well, they play well, they have arms, they play great defense. I wish them the best of luck and I hope they bring it home.”

Those three runs were more than enough for the UCF-signed McDonald, who also notched his 11th win on the mound in the game, working around five Gaither hits and three walks, to pitch five shutout innings and strikeout five.

McDonald pitched five shutout innings, earning his 11th win. 

Tied for the Hillsborough lead in wins (with Plant’s Robert Satin), McDonald shied away from celebrating any personal accolades.

“The personal stuff can wait,” McDonald said, “I just want to win as a team. I want to complete our mission and win the whole thing.”

Sickles (28-2) sent 10 different batters to the plate in the win, and all recorded at least one hit, including McDonald who added a single and double to his three-RBI night, before earning the rest of the night off after his five innings on the mound. Yost would also go 3-for-4 in the win, scoring twice.

“The guy has had an incredible senior year,” McDonald said of his teammate. “I love the way he’s swinging the bat right now.”

Gaither junior Nico Lopez connects on one of his two singles in the game. 

Younger brother Jordan Yost, who had the game-winning walk-off hit against Lennard in Monday’s region semifinal drove in a run in the win, as did senior Justin Allen, who doubled.

The elder Yost beamed with pride after his younger brother’s success the night before.

“It was a pretty cool moment for me and the team, he was pretty excited, but stayed humble and kept going into tonight,” Hayden said. “It’s awesome, him getting a walk-off hit in the regional semifinal – it’s a blessing to share that with him on the field.”

Timely hits just didn’t come for Gaither (22-7) on Tuesday, as the Cowboys got at least one base runner in five of seven innings – scratching out just a single run on a wild pitch in the sixth. Nico Lopez and Paul Provencher both had two hits in the loss.

Paul Provencher had two hits for the Cowboys.

It was a tough way for an incredible Gaither season to end as the Cowboys turned in an incredible second half going 17-1 after the Saladino Tournament – led from the mound by senior Steven Rojas (who took Tuesday’s decision) and junior Michael Fernandez (who currently ranks No. 5 in the state with 114 strikeouts).

“They played loose, got better every day,” North said of his team. “We had two really good arms that gave us the belief that we’d win every game. And when you believe like that, good things happen.”

Cowboys senior Steven Rojas.

The win earns Sickles a showdown with Winter Springs (19-9-1) in Fort Myers next Tuesday at 1pm, after the Bears defeated Gainesville Buchholz 10-8 on Tuesday.

⚾ Class 6A-Region 3 Final ⚾

Sickles 7, Gaither 1

G 000|001|0 – |1|7|1
S 331|000|x – |7|15|0
W – McDonald (11-1); L – Rojas
2B – McDonald, Allen (S); HR – H. Yost, McDonald (S). Records – G (22-7); S (28-2).

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