Connor McKenna quickly found himself in trouble in Wednesday night's game against Battle.
After opening the game with a strikeout, the Helias senior right-hander walked back-to-back Spartans.
Two pitches later, McKenna got Battle cleanup batter Payton Roberts to ground into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.
Battle only had one batter get past first base against McKenna after that as the Crusaders defeated the Spartans 8-3 at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
The lone run McKenna allowed in six innings on Senior Night came in the fourth inning, when Tre Morris blasted a no-doubt solo home run to left field.
"When you go six innings and make one mistake, that's pretty good odds," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "He pitched well, did a good job filling up the zone. When he didn't, he made pitches to get out of jams. We come to expect that from Connor."
Dylan Hood and Trevor Austin got the job done at the plate for Helias (15-5, ranked No. 5 in Class 4), combining for six of the Crusaders' nine hits.
Austin singled in Zach Woehr for the first run of the game and Hood doubled to deep right-center field to make it 2-0 in the first inning.
Austin drove in Woehr again in the second with a ground-ball single to left field for a 4-0 lead. Hood had his second RBI of the game in the six-run inning, smacking a liner just over the second baseman for a single, scoring Austin to extend the advantage to 6-0.
"That was probably as good as we've attacked the strike zone and adjusted to the pitcher's strength, which was that pitcher's curveball," Wyrick said. "We did a good job at adjusting to that early and hitting pitches we can handle."
A leadoff double by Austin and a single by Hood in the sixth were the only two hits after the second inning for Helias. The Crusaders stranded the bases loaded with three straight strikeouts in the sixth.
"We may have had maybe a handful of good at-bats in the last four innings, so that's something we discussed and we're going to try to correct that," Wyrick said.
Seniors Parker Schnieders and Austin Fennewald each had a hit and RBI.
Hood, McKenna, Schnieders, Fennewald, Brandon Ferguson, Jeremiah Heckman, Alex Buschjost, Jacob Hartman and Landon Harrison were all honored following the game for Senior Night.
McKenna retired the side in order in the second and pitched around a one-out single in the third.
Morris led off the fourth with a home run and McKenna then got behind 2-0 against Roberts. After a mound visit, McKenna struck out Roberts as he sent down the final nine batters he faced.
"Just move on," Wyrick said of the mound visit. "Just one run. You're still up seven runs. That wasn't a seven-run home run. Just fill up the zone and get back at it."
McKenna struck out five, walked two and allowed one run and two hits.
Hartman pitched the seventh, allowing two unearned runs on two hits with a strikeout.
Carson Fewell threw 1 innings for Battle, surrendering six runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk with a strikeout.
Joe Lee limited the damage with 3 innings of relief. He allowed two unearned runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
"He had a real tight curve ball and it was tough to pick up," Wyrick said. "At the same time, we let a lot of fastballs go by."
Helias will take its six-game win streak into Saturday's matchup against Hickman. The Crusaders will take on the Kewpies at 10 a.m. before facing Parkway West at 2 p.m. in Columbia.
In JV action, Helias defeated Battle 8-2.
Andrew Bexten had two of Helias' nine hits. Jason Binkley and Zach Paschal each had two RBI.
Paschal also earned the win on the mound, striking out three in four innings.