Aurora tops Helias in Class 4 quarterfinal rematch

Helias pitcher Conner McKenna comes to the plate during the fifth inning of Thursday night's Class 4 quarterfinal game against Aurora at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
Helias pitcher Conner McKenna comes to the plate during the fifth inning of Thursday night's Class 4 quarterfinal game against Aurora at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

The Aurora Houn' Dawgs owned the strike zone Thursday.

"They attacked it from the mound and at the plate and we really didn't," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said after the Crusaders dropped an 8-2 decision to the Houn' Dawgs in a Class 4 quarterfinal game Thursday at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

"That's the story of the game, nothing else matters when they're doing that."

On the mound, a pair of Aurora pitchers combined to strike out 14 Helias batters. Seven of the strikeouts were called strike threes.

"You're not attacking when that happens," Wyrick said.

At the plate, Aurora totaled 11 hits and drew five walks.

"We didn't throw enough good strikes," Wyrick said. "But they deserve credit, they did what they needed to do to win this game."

Wyrick wanted the Crusaders to establish themselves early in the game against a Houn' Dawg team that had thrown 17 shutouts and had an team ERA under 1.00.

"I was hoping we could get through the first three innings and then it would be game on," he said. "When you play a team like that, you have to play from ahead."

Instead, it was Aurora that struck first. The Houn' Dawgs scored three times in the bottom of the first and added single runs in the third and fourth to take a 5-0 lead.

"It's huge anytime we score early," Aurora coach James Hoffman said. "It's big to put runs up early."

After leaving the bases loaded in the fourth, Helias scored its two runs in the top of the fifth. Cole Fennewald led off with a single before advancing to third one out later when Zach Stiles reached on an error. Trevor Austin's sacrifice fly plated Fennewald before Matt Dampf singled home Stiles.

Helias had just two other hits in the game - a third-inning single by Austin Fennewald and an infield single by Parker Schnieders in the fourth.

Aurora got those two runs back in the bottom of the fifth to make it 7-2 before scoring the final run of the game in the sixth.

Wyatt Sparks got the win on the mound for Aurora, finishing with 100 pitches in six innings.

"He's the type of guy who when their better hitters are coming up, he gets better," Hoffman said.

The junior had 11 of Aurora's strikeouts.

"He made some good pitches, he was throwing his fast ball and his breaking ball for strikes," Wyrick said. "But the best way to not worry about the breaking ball is to swing at the fast ball. And we took too many of those."

Austin Erickson pitched the seventh, walking one and striking out three.

"If we get 14 hard grounders for outs or hard-hit fly balls for outs, that's one thing," Wyrick said. "But 14 strikeouts is not going to win a ballgame at any level."

Drew Boessen took the loss for the Crusaders, working the first 41/3 innings. Zach Davidson and Connor McKenna pitched in relief for the Crusaders, who end the season at 18-7.

It's the second straight season Aurora has beaten Helias in the quarterfinals. The Houn' Dawgs were 9-4 winners last year at Aurora.

Aurora (25-3), which finished third in the state last year, will meet Pleasant Hill (18-9) in Thursday's semifinal at Car Shield Field in O'Fallon. Westminster Christian (33-1) will face Lutheran South (22-8-1) in the other semifinal.