It was time for a big move.
After the fourth inning of Saturday afternoon's game against Fatima, Helias coach Chris Wyrick spent a couple of minutes huddled with the home plate umpire as the Crusader players stood outside their dugout.
When the huddle broke up, seven different Crusaders went out on the field to play defense and an eighth switched positions. Only pitcher Tyler Cassmeyer stayed in the game at the same spot.
The Crusaders had managed just one hit through four innings and trailed the Comets 3-0 at the time of the shift change. The reserves helped cut the deficit to one before Helias dropped a 4-2 decision to Fatima at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"I was happy to see us fight like that," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "I hope it showed the guys that were pulled from the game that if they aren't going to compete, we will find guys that will.
"And I think the guys that went in really competed."
The change wasn't because of what happened in the first four innings Saturday. It has been coming for a while.
"It's from preseason and first four games," Wyrick said. "We've been preaching some things to these guys since Day One and for whatever reason, some of them aren't buying in. We do things the right way and if you don't want to do what we well you, we will find somebody that will.
"It's that simple."
Dylan Hood singled in the fifth to double Helias' hit total off Fatima starter Logan Bexten.
The Crusaders then avoided being shutout for the third time in four games this season by scoring two runs in the sixth.
Brandon Ferguson hit a one-out double down the line in left before moving to third when Cole Fennewald reached on an error. Nick Brandt drove in Ferguson with a sacrifice fly to right.
"We had guys with good at-bats," Wyrick said. "You could tell some of them hadn't had many at-bats since the start of the season, but at least they competed."
Zach Davidson then hit a two-strike pitch to deep short for an infield single.
"Zach didn't watch a pitch with two strikes, he wasn't going to strike out looking," Wyrick said. "He put it in play and good things can happen when you do that."
Alex Buschjost, who moved from left field to catcher in the new lineup, singled to right to score Fennewald.
Fatima - which had scored single runs off Cassmeyer in the first, third and fifth innings - got an insurance run in the top of the seventh off reliever Jacob Hartman.
Cassmeyer went five innings before being pulled due to the MSHSAA pitch limit, allowed six hits and two walks while striking out six.
"He has good stuff, he just needs to be more efficient," Wyrick said. "He can't be at 101 pitches in five innings, he'll never finish a game. When he gets two strikes on a batter, he needs to finish them off, not necessarily with a strikeout, but making them put it in play so we can get an out."
Helias opened play Saturday with its first win of the season, an 11-1 victory in five innings against Kansas City O'Hara.
Conner McKenna got the start and the win on the mound for the Crusaders.
After O'Hara scored a run in the top of the third, Helias got six in the bottom of the inning. The Crusaders then added three in the fourth before ending the game with two in the fifth.
Zach Stiles, Parker Schnieders and Hood had two hits each in a 10-hit attack. Stiles, Taylor Austin and Matt Dampf all scored twice as the Crusaders took advantage of seven Celtics errors in the game.
Wyrick wanted that effort to carry over into the second game.
"I was hoping we'd have a little more confidence hitting that evidently we did," he said. "One hit in four innings shows that.
"We have to be tougher. Can we do good things against a team that also does good things? That's something we still haven't found out about this team yet."
Helias (1-3) is back in action Monday at home against Camdenton. The varsity game is slated for a 5 p.m. start.