Full-strength Gryphons blank Durant in opener
Sickles junior Thomas Bly (left) and senior Caden McDonald leap in celebration after both players returned from injury to begin the Saladino Tournament with a win against Durant (photo by Tara White).
Story by Chuck Frye, Staff Writer
Photos by Tara White, Correspondent
TAMPA – Potentially playing five games in six days is always a daunting task, one that’s compounded when a Saladino Tournament title is at stake. Doing so without the services of some top performers makes the task exponentially more difficult.
That’s what Sickles faced leading up to Saturday’s marquee day-one matchup at Jefferson High against a quality Durant squad, that is until the storm clouds cleared majestically for the Gryphons.
First, senior catcher Justin Allen was cleared for two-way play after being limited to DH duties due to an arm ailment. Then junior Louisville commit Thomas Bly returned to the lineup after his opening-day knee injury. Finally, just 10 days after his senior season was put in jeopardy after suffering a brutal line drive to his face, reigning county MVP Caden McDonald not only came back, but bravely took the mound against the Cougars.
Click here to check out nearly 100 photos from this game.
The returns energized Sickles, which pulled together a strong defensive effort while taking advantage of Durant miscues to come away with a 4-0 victory to open Gold Division Pool B play.
“We haven’t had our full infield since our first game and the defense was great (in defeating Durant),” said McDonald. “What more can you ask for as a pitcher?”
Durant senior catcher Dylan LaPointe applies a tag on Sickles’ Jacob Dial to end the fifth inning.
“It’s awesome to get all of them back,” said Gryphon co-captain and offensive hero Hayden Yost. “The bond that we have with them, the team chemistry we have with them on the field, it felt back-to-business (Saturday).”
The defense turned in a clean sheet in the win, spearheaded by a pair of gems from second baseman Jordan Yost. The sophomore Florida commit ranged to snare a grounder behind second base that ended a first-and-third, first-inning threat (“That was a little game-changer right there,” said head coach Eric Luksis), then did the same to start the fourth inning, which sparked a run of seven-straight outs for Sickles (5-1).
Sickles senior Hayden Yost was 3-for-3 with a triple, three RBI and a run scored in the Gryphons win.
Then Hayden Yost, whose second-inning, bases-loaded walk got Sickles on top early, continued his strong start to the 2023 campaign with a game-clinching blast. With No. 9 batter Luke Fikar (hit by pitch) and Connor Vance (infield error) on base in the sixth, the senior Florida commit lashed a line drive triple. His third hit of the day plated the pair and Yost himself scored on a wild pitch.
“I was just trying to square up a fast ball and I finally got one I could handle,” said Yost, who is now hitting .688 on the year. “(Durant starter Blaine Rowland) was around the zone, really filling it out, and we were just trying to pick one of those pitches and hit it hard somewhere.”
“(Rowland) is throwing too many strikes, if that’s possible,” said Cougars head coach Butch Valdes of his junior, who finished one out shy of a complete game, allowing seven hits. “His 0-2 pitches have been hurting him … those extra runs (on Yost’s triple) were from an 0-2 pitch. He does a great job, we can count on him for throwing strikes but sometimes just too many hurts.”
Durant junior Blaine Rowland took the loss, allowing three earned run in 6 2/3 innings on the mound, finishing with one strikeout.
The excitement from his speedy return had McDonald off-kilter on the hill, but the senior navigated through four shutout innings, yielding a lone first-inning hit to Noah Morales while striking out five, walking two and hitting a batter.
“My mechanics were a little out of whack at first,” the UCF commit said. “I was just really excited to be back. It took a little bit to calm it down, but I think I got it down. Monday will be better and it will just get better from here on out.”
Senior Caden McDonald returned to the mound just 10 days after a line drive to the face sent him to the hospital.
Junior Cameron Guise followed McDonald, working two innings of one-hit ball with three Ks before handing off to Fikar for a 1-2-3 seventh frame.
The Gryphons return to Saladino round-robin action for an emotional rematch on Monday night, facing a host Jefferson squad that owns the lone win over Sickles in the game where McDonald was injured. Now 5-2, Durant kicks off the day’s doubleheader, sending junior Gehrig Graham to the mound at 4 PM to face Robinson.
#3 Sickles 4
#2 Durant 0
D 000|000|0 – |0|2|3
S 010|003|x – |4|8|0
W – McDonald (2-0); L – Rowland (1-1)
3B – H. Yost (S). Records – D (5-2); S (5-1).
