East Lake avenge ’23 loss, top Sickles for 6A-10 crown

East Lake reliever Jayden Harriel almost jumps out of the frame after his fourth strikeout locks up an emotional district title win.

By Chuck Frye, Senior Staff Writer

TARPON SPRINGS – Using almost every metric available, East Lake and Sickles were identical. Pitching stats, defensive efficiency, batting average, power numbers … you name it. The gap between the two teams was razor thin.

So, it was only natural that an intangible would create the miniscule but necessary separation to send one team to victory. And for East Lake, it came down to one word: vengeance.

After a Caden McDonald home run sent Sickles to last year’s Class 6A District 10 title over the Eagles – and eventually a state championship – East Lake yearned for a rematch. With another district title on the line, the Eagles seized on a rare Gryphon mistake, and reliever Jayden Harriel made it stand up in an emotional 2-1 victory.

“We knew (Sickles) was going to make it (to the postseason) and we wanted them again,” Harriel said. “One-hundred percent we wanted this game again.”

East Lake freshman Camden Boehm (27) trots home on Daniel Spicher’s third-inning RBI single to open the game’s scoring.

Deadlocked 1-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, East Lake (24-3) got a leadoff single from cleanup batter Trey Babbitt. Braden Post laid down a sacrifice bunt and the ball eluded the Gryphons defense for an error, followed by a passed ball to advance both runners 90 feet, the hosts knew this opportunity couldn’t pass them by.

Freshman Camden Boehm, a .320 hitter in his rookie campaign, came through with what would be the winning blow as he drove a line drive sacrifice fly deep enough to deliver courtesy runner Milan Verna.

East Lake rightfielder Camden Boehm tracks back to grab Jacob Taylor’s second-inning fly ball.

From there, starting pitcher Jackson Krukonis, and finally Harriel, fought off a Sickles offense that got runners on base in every inning but struggled to produce the one clutch hit needed to create a winning edge.

“Definitely, our pitchers have been dominant this year,” Harriel said. “I’ve got to give credit to our coaching staff for just letting us work out in our bullpens, work on situations, hitting our spots. That’s how we got most of our guys out.”

Sickles senior Will Lichtenfels hustles home, scoring on a fourth-inning error.

Coming in after Krukonis (five-plus innings, no earned runs, five hits, four strikeouts), who gave up a sixth-inning leadoff double to Will Lichtenfels, Harriel shook off an infield grounder that moved Lichtenfels to third and struck out the last two batters of the inning. And after Jordan Yost started the seventh by drawing a walk, Harriel bookended a near game-ending double play with a pair of Ks to complete the victory.

“At the end of the game, I had a lot of energy,” Harriel said. “I was keeping it in and then I got that last strikeout and that meant a lot.”

East Lake second baseman Andrew Sheffield avoids the slide of Jordan Yost (10) looking to turn a seventh-inning game-ending double play. Jaden Nazar beat the throw but East Lake won the game shortly afterward.

Sickles (20-7) also jumped on a rare spate of poor defense from the Eagles to counter Daniel Spicher’s RBI single and a third-inning lead. With one out in the fourth, Lichtenfels reached on a two-base throwing error and scored when DH Brandon Gonzales’ grounder went through the wickets of an East Lake infielder.

But as happened all night long, the Gryphons couldn’t provide the knockout blow despite getting ample opportunities. In four different innings, Sickles had runners in scoring position. In addition to the fifth inning threat, Gonzales and Jacob Taylor (throwing error on his sacrifice bunt) were on second and third in the fourth only to be stranded.

“We knew that this game was going to be a pitcher’s duel and we knew we’d have to execute the little things,” Sickles head coach Eric Luksis said. “We knew we’d have to get our bunts down and move runners, and we had to play perfect defense. Ultimately, we weren’t able to do that tonight.”

Sickles starter Carter LeBlanc allowed four hits and one earned run in four innings of work against East Lake.

The Gryphons got strong starting pitching from Hillsborough CC commit Carter LeBlanc, who worked four innings of four-hit ball with four strikeouts, before turning things over to Cameron Guise. The Lipscomb commit retired all six batters he faced with three Ks.

“The thing about this game (Thursday) is that both teams came into it knowing we were moving on to regionals,” Luksis said. “Our team put us in this position by playing well enough this season so we didn’t want to burn Cam (Guise) completely because we’re going to need him early next week.

“Unfortunately, sometimes hard things have to happen for you to learn your lesson. It hasn’t cost us games up to this point but it cost us a game (Thursday). It takes a game like this to get us to fully understand how important certain situations can be.”

Gryphons catcher Emilio Salgado squared up to block a low sixth-inning pitch, tagging Trey Babbitt out on a swinging third strike.

And understandably, Harriel had a different reaction: “It’s been a while since we’ve won a championship here (since 2018), so just getting that chance was big. Our pitching (allowing slightly over one earned run a game) can take us very far in games where our bats aren’t getting picked up. It’s going to play a huge role going into the tournament.”

After earning the save with 4 Ks in 2 innings, @Baseball_ELHS senior @jayden_harriel smiles as he clutches the newly-won 6A-10 district title trophy. @813Preps pic.twitter.com/8D0kW1ct5L

— Chuck (@FryeChuck) May 3, 2024

The brackets for the regional tourney will be announced by the FHSAA on Friday.

After avenging last year’s district title loss to Sickles and wining its first district championship since 2018, East Lake points its celebration at the Gryphons’ dugout.

Class 6A-10 Championship

East Lake 2, #3 Sickles 1