Tyler Cassmeyer has been working on his curveball and speeding up his fastball. It showed Thursday night.
The Helias senior struck out a career-high 16 and only surrendered four singles in a complete-game effort to lead the Crusaders to a 5-0 win against Eldon at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
"I was just focused mentally," Cassmeyer said. "In the dugout I was just picturing myself throwing the ball where I wanted to spot it and that really helped."
Eldon singled twice in the first inning, then recorded two singles the rest of the game. Cassmeyer retired the side in order in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh.
Cassmeyer's fastball was high early on, but he kept it in the lower half of the zone after the first inning.
"And then that's when the strikeouts started adding up," Cassmeyer said.
He struck out the side in the second and third innings, stranding a runner at second in the third.
The Helias (12-4) bats had already created enough run support in the top of the second. Parker Schneiders led off with a single and later scored on Dylan Hood's sacrifice fly. Austin Fennewald then reached on an error, allowing Drew Boessen to score from third. Zach Stiles, who went 4-for-4 from the leadoff spot, singled to right field to drive in courtesy runner Brandon Ferguson from second.
"He's a good leadoff hitter," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said of Stiles. "As he goes, we go. If he's getting on base and scoring runs, we have a chance to be really good offensively. Hopefully he can keep that up in the next three and a half weeks."
Stiles was tagged out trying to reach second base on the play. Helias was aggressive on the basepaths Thursday, ending up with four steals.
"We want to make guys make plays, and if they can't make plays we're going to score," Wyrick said.
Helias scored its first three runs off Andrew Rodriguez, who struck out five and walked two in three innings.
The Crusaders added a pair of runs in the sixth off Darian Mergelkamp. Trevor Austin and Matthew Dampf each singled in a run. All four of Helias' hits in the inning were singles.
Between the second and the sixth, Helias got four runners in scoring position but couldn't get them in. Nick Brandt reached third base on an error and a Stiles single in the fourth, but was out trying to score on a passed ball.
A Dampf walk and Schnieders double got two runners in scoring position with one out in the fifth. A popout and groundout kept them there.
"We left some guys on in scoring position that we normally don't do," Wyrick said. " We talked about that and we're going to work on that next time we practice."
But the extra runs weren't needed. Cassmeyer struck out the final six Eldon batters, mostly using his fastball in the seventh.
"I felt amazing out there," Cassmeyer said. "I think this is the hardest I've thrown all season. Everything was clicking."
Cassmeyer finished with 85 pitches, 66 for strikes. He also had 20 first-pitch strikes.
"When you've got a pitcher throwing all of his pitches for strikes then you really have a team back on their heels and second guessing what they're doing," Wyrick said.
Thursday's win was Helias' ninth straight dating back to April 8 against Jefferson City in the Capital City Invitational championship game.
"We're willing to fight," Cassmeyer said. "No matter how hard the other team plays, we're ready."
The Crusaders hope to add to the streak today and Saturday in the Waynesville Tournament. Helias is scheduled to face Neosho at 2 p.m. and Lutheran: St. Charles for the third time this season at 4 p.m. today, and Waynesville at 11 a.m. Saturday.