With his eyes firmly focused on today, Helias head baseball coach Chris Wyrick knew the importance of Thursday's matchup against St. Dominic.
"This was a must-win for us," Wyrick said of the battle between Crusaders.
The must-win was indeed a win as Clayton Winter tossed a five-hitter and Drew Boessen drove in three runs as Helias blanked St. Dominic 7-0 at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"We needed this one because it's another thing we can point toward to getting a better seed in the district tournament," Wyrick said. "The kids did what they needed to do and it's going to be a little easier to go into the seed meeting."
That meeting is today for the Class 4 District 10 Tournament, which starts Saturday, May 14, at School of the Osage.
Bolivar is likely the No. 1 seed. Helias and Southern Boone figure to be battling it out for the No. 2 spot and a first-round bye that goes with it.
"You never know, it's what other coaches see as your value," Wyrick said.
Helias looked sharp for much of Thursday's win, taking the lead in the second inning. With one out, Zach Stiles walked and stole second before Drew Boessen doubled to right to make it 1-0.
St. Dominic (13-8) looked like it was going to break onto the scoreboard in its half of the third when two walks and a single loaded the bases with one out.
But on a 1-1 pitch, a St. Dominic batter missed a bunt attempt with the runner at third breaking for home. An exchange of throws between catcher Nick Carr and Boessen and third resulted in a tag for the second out. Winter then coaxed a fly out to right to end the inning.
"Clayton got a little wild there, but we did the fundamentals to get that out," Wyrick said.
Boessen came through at the plate again in the third, ripping a two-run double to right-center to score two and make it 3-0.
"Ryan's got long arms and when he gets the bat through the zone, he can hit it pretty well," Wyrick said. "He really sparked us in the early innings, I think he got everybody to relax a little bit after he drove in those runs."
Helias doubled its lead to 6-0 in the fourth. Parker Schnieders drove in two runs with a single, while Matt Dampf had the other RBI on a base hit.
Helias got its final run in the fifth when Alex Faddoul doubled home Landon Harrison.
Winter walked three to go along with the five hits. He struck out nine, recording at least one in each of the seven innings in finishing with 87 pitches.
"It was a typical Clayton Winter game," Wyrick said. "He usually has a little rough patch, he works out of it and throws a pretty good game."
It was Senior Day for Helias and all but one position in the seventh was manned by a senior.
"It's a good group of kids, a good group of students and just good people all-around," Wyrick said.
Helias (14-8) is back in action Saturday in a doubleheader with Linn and McCluer North at Hickman High School in Columbia.
Helias will then play Tuesday at Waynesville before hosting Sedalia Smith-Cotton on Thursday to close out the regular season.