Lee sends Helias past Hickman in seventh

Helias' Garrett Buschjost slides home just under the tag of Hickman catcher Colby Fitch to score the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday at the American Legion Sports Complex.
Helias' Garrett Buschjost slides home just under the tag of Hickman catcher Colby Fitch to score the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday at the American Legion Sports Complex.

Hayden Lee stepped to the plate determined to come through.

The Helias senior designated hitter entered the batters box with Wednesday's game against Hickman tied at 6 with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"I knew had to get that run in for my team," Lee said. "I had to do my job to hit the ball somewhere so we could win this game."

Five pitches later, Lee delivered. His sacrifice fly to right field was deep enough to score Garrett Buschjost with the game-winner in Helias' 7-6 victory at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

"I just sat back and waited for the right pitch to hit," Lee said.

Helias coach Chris Wyrick was confident Lee could get the job done.

"He had a lot of good swings in practice (Tuesday) and he hit the ball hard in this game," Wyrick said. "I thought he would put the ball in play where we had a chance to score."

Buschjost was hit by a pitch to start the seventh.

"He did a heck of a job getting on base," Wyrick said.

Buschjost then stole second and the Kewpies elected to intentionally walk Todd Buschjost. Ryan Bounds came off the bench to lay down a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second third. Andy Devine was then intentionally walked to load the bases and bring Lee to the plate.

Lee hit a 2-2 pitch to medium right field and Buschjost beat the throw to the plate with a great slide.

"This is a great win to propel us for the rest of the season," Lee said.

It was a day where the offense came through for a pitching staff that had trouble finding the strike zone. Helias hurlers walked nine Hickman batters and five of those came around to score.

"We've struggled with walks a few times this season, but this was the first day it almost got us," Wyrick said. "Our pitchers have been doing a great job of helping out our hitters all season and this time, the hitter came through for the pitchers."

Clayton Winter, the third Helias pitcher, got the win. The sophomore pitched the final 22/3 innings, scattering one hit and three walks while striking out two.

"Clayton has a good makeup on the mound," Wyrick said.

After a scoreless two innings, Hickman got on the board in the third off Helias starter Wyatt Porter when Colby Fitch drove in two runs with a single on a 3-2 pitch with two outs.

"That was my fault, we should have walked (Fitch)," Wyrick said.

Helias got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when Alex Barton singled home Devine. Hickman made it 3-1 with a run in the fourth before Helias took the lead with four runs in its half of the frame.

The Crusaders sent nine batters to the plate in the inning, getting four hits and two walks and taking advantage of a pair of Kewpie errors. Kale Gerstner, Devine and Austin Sachse had RBI for Helias.

The advantage was short-lived as Hickman scored three times in the top of the fifth to make it 6-5. A pair of walks sandwiched around a foul out brought an end to Porter's day. The senior allowed five runs on four hits and five walks while striking out four.

"He's been great for us all year and you can't expect that all the time from someone who took last year off," Wyrick said. "It's a timing thing with Wyatt, but you know he's going to battle every time he's out there."

After sophomore Josiah Imhoff allowed a walk and a single in his varsity debut, Winter entered the game. He gave up a two-run single to Brian Montgomery that gave the Kewpies the lead, but then got a force out and strikeout to end the threat.

Helias tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Garrett Buschjost scored on a grounder by Devine.

Alex Barton, Brock Gerstner and Todd Buschjost all had two hits in a 12-hit Helias attack. Garrett Buschjost scored three times.

"Hopefully this will be a springboard," Wyrick said. "This should give us a little more confidence the rest of the season. We're getting there, it's a learning process."

It was the first of just five home games for Helias, who will play Greenville and Potosi on Saturday in Potosi.