Sickles wins wild one against Alonso, 24-14
Sickles Noah Gonzalez slides home safely to score one of his two runs – and one of the 38 combined runs – in the Gryphons win against Alonso.
By Mike Camunas, Creative Director
CITRUS PARK — It was a night, and a game, of many adjectives.
Certainly, where just one wouldn’t do.
“That was something else,” longtime Alonso coach Landy Faedo said. “Definitely wild.”
For more photos of this game, click here.
“A very crazy game,” Sickles senior catcher Emilio Salgado said, nearly at a loss for words. “It’s insane really.”
“It was abnormal — strange,” Gryphons coach Eric Luksis agreed. “Nobody expected this, and that’s what we had, and that’s the beauty of the game.”
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Not sure if anyone, except maybe Luksis and his players, is going to use “beautiful” to describe the 24-14 mercy-rule win for the Gryphons, which took a four-hour marathon on a frigid Tuesday evening to play out.
The Sickles bench welcomes Zach Dial back to the dugout after the senior scored in the first inning.
In all, the two teams combined for a football score (or 38 runs), 27 hits, nine errors, 17 walks, 11 strikeouts, over 69 at-bats that saw 13 pitchers (eight for Alonso, five for Sickles) take the mound.
“I’m sure (I’ve been a part of or coached) a game like that in the past,” Faedo confessed. “I don’t know for sure, but I’m sure. It happens sometimes though.”
Alonso senior RHP Julian Batista
Alonso (2-4) and Sickles (4-2) started a pair of their top guys, Julian Batista and Peter Tsikouris, respectively, but neither fared well.
Sickles junior RHP Peter Tsikouris
While Tsikouris would eventually last two innings, he did give up the game’s first run with two outs on a passed ball that let Raymond Llanes score (after he hit a leadoff double to start the game).
Getting out of the first inning with just one?
Sickles likely felt they got off the hook pretty unscathed, and then proceeded to do something remarkable.
Alonso senior Raymond Llanes (green sliding glove) goes up in celebration with Jordan Brautigam (#24) after Llanes doubled then scored on a passed ball in the first inning.
The Gryphons would score four runs with no outs, and then at 5-1, score five runs with two outs. Batista would get pulled without registering an out, allowing seven earned runs and four walks. To get through the inning, Alonso would need to use two more pitchers for three outs — Andy Aduriz and Jacob Nartker.
It would then seem, with Sickles now boasting a 10-1 lead after one inning, like the Gryphons might quickly take an easy win and go home early.
Standing on first in front of Sickles assistant coach Bob Shaw, Gryphons junior Nick Grannis lets his dugout hear it after his two-run single in the first inning.
However, Alonso said “hold our water bottles.”
The Ravens would then score 8-unanswered runs over the second and third innings, including seven in the latter. In the top of the third, it was Sickles’ turn to use three pitchers to get three outs — after Tsikouris was knocked out after giving up a single, walk and two runs, the Gryphons turned to Ryan Turgeon, who would get just one out, but have a critical throwing error that led Luksis turn to Ryan Carvajal.
For those keeping track at home, the score was now Sickles 10, Alonso 9 after 2 ½ innings.
“The runs just kept piling on, on both sides,” Salgado said. “I mean, we had that one bad inning, but they had the two bad innings.”
Sickles senior C Emilio Salgado
Salgado was referring to the Gryphons second 10-run inning, scoring three no-out runs and six one-out runs. Alonso would need another three pitchers — Nartker, Broad Bertrand and Andisley Quesada — to get through the inning.
“We got a 10-run lead twice,” Luksis said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve had that before in my coaching career, but a 10-run lead twice — thankfully, the second time we were able to kind of hold it off.
Alonso’s Johnny Rodriguez celebrates his third-inning RBI double.
“The first 10-run lead felt good, but we had a quick conversation after giving up (the first 10-run lead) and our hitters locked in, so credit to them for staying in the game and continuing to go because we needed it tonight.”
Even though over the next three innings, Alonso would outscore Sickles 5-4, the Gryphons were able to finally end the game by scoring three runs on two outs in the sixth to hit the mercy rule.
Sickles sophomore Evan Pedersen connects on a two-run double.
“(It was) no surprise with this team (hanging in the game despite the big leads),” Faedo said. “They’re just like that.”
In all, Sickles players such as Salgado and Nick Grannis both had four RBI, Jake Taylor (who went 3-for-5 and scored five runs), Cole Shearer (who had four hits), Lee Melamut each had three RBI, and Charlie Martz and Evan Pedersen each had a pair of RBI, with the latter grabbing his on a pinch hit.
Sean Kloehn scoring one of his four runs in the Gryphons win.
For Alonso, Llanes (who doubled twice and scored three runs) would drive home three RBI on three hits, Maikol Madueno would drive home two while going 3-for-4, as well for Johnny Rodriguez, who went 2-for-3 and scored twice.
The Gryphons, pitching wise, would throw 191 pitches, and the Ravens would throw 208.
“You never know what you’re going to get,” Luksis said, “and this was one of those nights where it’s hard to explain, but it’s one we’ll be talking about for a while.”
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Sickles 24
Alonso 14 – six innings
A 117|302|x – |14|12|4
S (10)0(10)|013|x – |24|19|5
W – Tsikouris (2-1); L – Batista (0-3)
2B – Llanes 2, Rodriguez 2, Madueno, Abrasante, Brautigam (A); Salgado, Pederson (S). Records – A (2-4); S (4-2).
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Hillsborough County’s dean of baseball coaches, Landy Faedo (now in his 29th season, and 25th at Alonso) discusses things with his infield in the first inning.
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Gryphons senior Zach Dial stands on second base. Dial scored three times in Tuesday’s win.
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Alonso relief pitcher Andy Aduriz
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Sickles relief pitcher Ryan Turgeon
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Alonso’s dugout comes alive during the Ravens’ seven-run rally in the third inning.
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Senior Jake Taylor motors into third base on an Emilio Salgado double in the third inning.
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Evan Pedersen after driving in a pair in the third inning.
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Alonso RHP Andisley Quesada
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Alosno RHP Aiden Sansing
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