With title aspirations, Sickles stays on course at Dunedin
On-deck man Emilio Delgado (right) beat the home plate umpire to the punch, signaling teammate Michael Bynum safe as the senior slides past Dunedin catcher Jett Matos for the game’s first run.
By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer
DUNEDIN – The cast may have changed but Sickles’ goal remains the same: a date in Fort Myers with a state title on the line just like last year.
And with the defending state champion Gryphons hitting on all cylinders once again, May baseball could very well be in the cards.
Just consider Thursday night’s journey to Pinellas County for a match-up against perennial power Dunedin, a battle that, according to Gryphons head coach Eric Luksis, “is as close as a playoff match-up that you’re going to get. We’re playing on a minor league field where the dimensions are a little bigger and it prepares us for a postseason run.”
Courtesy runner Jabari Anderson just beats the tag of Dunedin’s Jack Johnson to steal third base and later score a third-inning run.
But the only thing that was taxed on this night were the baseballs that the Gryphons hammered all over one of those larger fields at the Toronto Blue Jays’ impressive Player Developmental Complex. Exploding for four runs in the top of the first inning, backing that up with superb starting pitching from Cameron Guise, then adding impactful defense, Sickles cruised to a 7-1 victory.
Sickles senior Cameron Guise worked 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball to earn the victory over Dunedin.
Kicking off a night of ruthless production, the heart of the Gryphons lineup was on fire from the jump. Michael Bynum lofted a Texas League single between three Dunedin defenders into shallow rightfield then moved to third base on Guise’s gap-shot double. Clean-up man Jaden Nazar (two doubles) tapped a 30-foot dribbler toward the mound with a hustling Bynum beating the throw to the plate. Sophomore Emilio Salgado followed with an RBI two-bagger, while a wild pitch brought home Nazar and a perfectly executed first-and-third play by Will Lichtenfels (walk and single) allowed courtesy runner Sean Kloehn to trot home.
With Dunedin second baseman Carlos Alfredo (32, left) and shortstop Aiden Sherifi (15, right) waiting for a return throw, Sickles’ Will Lichtenfels extends a first-inning rundown just long enough for courtesy runner Sean Kloehn to cross the plate, giving the Gryphons an early 4-0 lead.
“We swung the bats well, we had a lot of hard contact,” Luksis said of an 11-hit Gryphon attack. “When you get a four-run first inning and you’ve got Cam on the mound, most of the time that’s going to be enough to win.”
In addition to an outstanding mound stint, Cameron Guise drilled a pair of doubles and a single, stealing a base and scoring two runs.
After helping create his own comfort zone offensively by going 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored, Guise kept the Falcons lineup off balance through 4 2/3 shutout innings, scattering three hits, striking out four, walking none and hitting a batter.
“I’ve always worked backwards to hitters. That’s the kind of stuff I’ve been doing all my life,” said Guise. “My curveball’s always been my best pitch and I’ve finally started to be able to throw my change-up for strikes, so being able to work backwards really opens up all opportunities when I get ahead of batters.”
Courtesy runner Sean Kloehn just gets under the tag attempt of Falcons shortstop Aiden Sherifi for a third-inning stolen base.
And when Dunedin (9-4) managed to cobble together a threat, the battery of Guise and catcher Salgado put out the fire.
In the third, Carlos Alfredo (single, passed ball, stolen base) and leadoff man Madden James (hit by pitch, steal) were in scoring position only to be stranded via a Guise K.
Senior Nick Hartley pitched 1 1/3 innings of one-run relief.
Aiden Sherif energized his teammates when he led off the fifth with a hard double down the leftfield line, but the momentum disappeared just two pitches later. Reacting to a missed bunt attempt, Salgado rifled a perfect throw to shortstop Jordan Yost to pick off Sherif. After a final Guise K, reliever Nick Hartley came in and induced an infield popup to end the frame.
“The coaches told me that if a bunt is missed, I look for the bag,” Salgado explained. “And if the bag is wide open, gun ’em. I was anticipating that.”
Clean-up batter Jaden Nazar slides safely past the Falcons’ Jack Johnson, reaching third base on Emilio Salgado’s first-inning double. Nazar, who had two doubles of his own, later scored on a wild pitch.
“That was a really heads-up play by our catcher and shortstop,” Luksis said. “They did that all on their own. It was a really good back-pick at second, throw right on the money, and it stopped (the Falcons’) rally after the leadoff double, which was huge.”
Sickles (12-3, and just one game off of last year’s title pace) padded its lead on Salgado’s RBI single in the third and seventh-inning production from Bynum (RBI base hit) and Nazar (run-scoring double).
Dunedin finally broke through to score in the sixth when Demetri Tsesmelis’ base hit delivered Madden James, who had doubled.
Dunedin centerfielder Demetri Tsesmelis parks under a second-inning fly ball. Tsesmelis later drove in the Falcons’ lone run with a sixth-inning single.
“We picked a bad night not to show up,” Falcons head coach Davis Kippen lamented. “It was a gut punch and we made mistakes we don’t normally make against a well-coached team, but that’s why we play the teams we play. We want to be the most battle-tested team in the playoffs.”
Sickles will look to extend its winning streak to six games in a marquee match-up at Jefferson on Tuesday.
Sickles reliever Carter LeBlanc struck out the side in the seventh inning to close out the victory.
⚾
#5 Sickles 7, Dunedin 1
S 401|000|2 – |7|11|0
D 000|001|0 – |1|6|0
W – Guise (4-2); L – Beard
2B – Guise 2, Nazar 2, Salgado (S); James, Sherifi (D). Records – S (12-3); D (9-4).
Sickles third baseman Michael Bynum (14) rifles a throw to first baseman Jaden Nazar for a second-inning out.
