Helias needed someone to break the ice.
No, winter weather didn't make it's return Saturday afternoon. The Crusaders had one baserunner after it's first seven batters against Lutheran: St. Charles. Then Parker Schnieders stepped to the plate.
The first pitch he saw was a fastball, and he turned on it as well as anyone could have, bombing it over the fence in left-center field for a solo home run.
"He's been struggling, but he didn't struggle in that at-bat," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said following the 4-0 win against the Cougars at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex. "That's the best swing he's had all year. Obviously the results speak for themselves."
That shot gave Helias a 1-0 lead in the third inning and Alex Buschjost, the No. 4 batter, provided the insurance with a bases-clearing double to the gap in left field in the fifth inning. That was Helias' third and final hit of the game.
"Alex is a kid who doesn't try to do too much," Wyrick said. "He just tries to put the bat on the ball. He's a strong kid so it doesn't take a lot."
The Cougars also had three hits, but couldn't get on the scoreboard against Brandon Ferguson or Jacob Hartman.
Ferguson retired the side in order three times during his outing of 5 innings. He struck out four and walked one.
"We've been preaching to him that he's got a great arm, he's got good stuff, he's just got to throw strikes," Wyrick said. "When he does you see he doesn't get squared up very much."
Hartman shut down the Courgars in 1 innings of relief.
In the first game of the day, Helias kept the line moving and Kaleb Haley kept Father Tolton, which lost 3-1 to Lutheran: St. Charles in the second game of the day, in check for an 11-1 win in five innings.
Haley sent down the first eight Trailblazers he faced and finished his five-inning outing by giving up one run on five hits with two strikeouts.
"We know Kaleb is going to throw strikes," Wyrick said. "He's not going to overpower anybody, but he's going to throw strike after strike after strike."
Helias (11-5) collected 11 hits against the Trailblazers, but it was baserunning that made the double-digit production possible.
Zach Woehr led off the bottom of the first with a single. He stole second and ended up scoring thanks to the ball squirting into center field. It was one of six steals for the Crusaders.
"What we've really worked on the last two or three practices is balls in the dirt, moving up and taking advantage of the pitcher making a mistake and making the catcher block balls and pick it up and try to throw somebody out," Wyrick said.
Woehr led Helias with three hits in the game, scoring twice and driving two in. He sent a ball to the fence in left-center field for an RBI triple in the third.
"He makes us go," Wyrick said. "We told him if he gets on base twice a game, we're going to score a lot of runs. The guys behind him are going to put the ball in play and he's going to use those legs he has."
Helias scored five runs in the second thanks to four singles plus Landon Harrison's double down the left-field line that squeezed under the third baseman's glove.
Dylan Hood added a two-RBI single in the fourth and Austin Fennewald had two hits and two RBI.
"I was happy with how we adjusted to the speed of the pitcher," Wyrick said. "He wasn't throwing real hard. It's easy to pop everything up and beat it into the ground, but we did a good job at staying back and squaring balls up, which was good to see because we're going to see more guys like that."
Saturday's two wins followed a 9-0 loss to Rock Bridge on Thursday.
"We're competing a lot better," Wyrick said. "On Thursday we didn't compete at all against Rock Bridge, but if we come out and compete like this and give ourselves a chance, then I think we can beat anybody."
Helias' next opponent is Blair Oaks, which the Crusaders will play Tuesday in Wardsville.