Selfless Yost always puts Tigers first
BENTON — Even when Emmitt Yost accomplishes something that earns him state-wide recognition, he turns all the focus onto his Benton teammates.
Coming off a five-inning perfect game — believed to be the first in program history — with 11 strikeouts and hitting a two-run home run to help the Tigers defeat rival Millville 11-0 on April 23, Yost still made the final say all about the team.
Yost stood and addressed the team on the bus, thanking them for everything they did to make the achievement possible.
It’s his team-first attitude that coach Jim Shires says has taken over.
“The kids behind him want to do well because he is that person,” Shires said. “When you do something wrong, he’s the first one to pick you up. When you do something great, he’s the first one to congratulate you. That makes the kids want to go extra hard for him.”
It also got Benton and the surrounding communities to go extra hard in voting for him in MaxPreps’ Pennsylvania Athlete of the Week honors last week. Voting numbers were never formally announced by the website, but Yost heard the number was rather high to earn him the accolade.
“It was unbelievable. The more I saw the number go up, the more amazed I was about how many care enough about that,” Yost said. “There’s maybe 800 people here and 60,000 votes is a lot of votes. That just shows how dedicated our fans are and how much everyone cares. I was really amazed.”
The performance sums up just how far Yost has come in the past year. On the mound, the sophomore has a 4-2 record to go with a 1.27 ERA in 272/3innings. Half of those wins are complete-game shutouts. He also struck out 44 while issuing six walks.
At the plate, he is hitting.289 with a home run and pair of doubles. He also has 14 RBIs and has scored 11 times to go with a.372 on base percentage.
The results didn’t come overnight. Yost plays Junior American Legion baseball for Berwick as well as travel ball. He also spends most of his mornings lifting at the high school and gets together with teammates for workouts as often as possible.
He also put a great deal of time into his pitching craft with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders manager Doug Davis and former minor league pitcher Ryan Keefer. The Southern Columbia graduate logged nearly 600 innings pitched over the course of nine seasons.
“Both have worked day in and day out and have helped more than I could have ever imagined,” Yost said. “I think location and confidence on the mound are my two biggest attributes because without either, you don’t have anything.”
The ability to play was never in question, but the mental side of the game came to the forefront immediately.
“The physical tools were always there. He just always needed the confidence to go out there and put it all together,” Shires said. “He has now. He knows he belongs and he’s playing at a high level.
“I saw a different Emmitt as we were struggling and the nerves got the best of us as the game got away in the season opener against Bloomsburg. We got 10 rolled and with the season not starting how we’d like, Emmitt just stayed who he was and didn’t panic. Last year, you would have seen the emotion, but that didn’t happen this year. That’s when I knew he was at a different level this year. His confidence didn’t change.”
Team success
Yost is one who would trade personal success for team success. Fortunately, he can have the cake and eat it, too.
The Tigers currently sit atop the District 4 Class A standings with a 9-3 record and.548 rating. They have seven games remaining on their schedule and hope the worst is behind them after committing nine uncharacteristic errors in a 16-2 loss to Muncy earlier this week.
“I’ve seen the most growth in the culture of this team. We work very well together. I think that’s what’s gotten me to this point,” Yost said. “Everybody has been nothing but supportive. Everybody has everyone’s back and we all want [a district title]. They want it more for the others on the team than they do for themselves and that’s a very powerful thing.”
For that to happen, Yost says he and his teammates don’t have to be perfect like he was that afternoon against Millville. They just have to keep their heads up and keep moving forward.
Shires has no doubt the core of Yost, Josh Grassley, Landon Shires, Max Steward and Graydon Beishline can get the job done.
“I tell them all the time that with bad teams, nobody leads; good teams, coaches lead; great teams, players lead,” he said. “We have players leading now. You can tell in the results.”
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