Zach Woehr and Landon Harrison did what coaches hope the top two batters in the line up do. Get on base, get in scoring position and score runs.
They combined to reach base eight times and scored all of the Crusaders' runs in Thursday night's 7-6 walk-off victory in eight innings against Sedalia Smith-Cotton at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
Harrison scored the tying run in the seventh when Zach Paschal battled back from an 0-2 count to walk with the bases loaded.
"He fouled a few pitches off, which is what we've been stressing for two weeks," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "Then he drew a walk to tie the game. That was one of our better at-bats."
Woehr scored the winning run after Harrison, Trevor Austin and Dylan Hood all walked with two outs.
Woehr went 2-for-5 with four runs scored and Harrison was 4-for-4 with an RBI, a walk and three runs scored.
Austin and Hood did their job in the middle of the lineup, each reaching base four times and driving in two runs.
"We had guys that hadn't had good at-bats in the last week or so and had better at-bats tonight," Wyrick said. "That's encouraging and hopefully we can build on that."
Helias never led until they walked it off for the win.
Smith-Cotton scored three runs in the first to end Brandon Ferguson's outing after an inning.
Kaleb Haley helped keep the Crusaders within striking distance, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits with a strikeout in five innings of relief.
"He just throws strikes," Wyrick said. "The hits that he did give up were balls that were up in the zone. If they work the knees, nobody hits them.
"They'll put the ball in play, they'll get singles but they won't get doubles and drive the ball out of the park. He did that for the most part."
After Brice Pannier led off the seventh with a single, Zach Davidson relieved Haley.
Pannier stole second and Smith-Cotton cleanup batter Clayton Meyer sent a fly ball to center field for his fourth hit and second RBI of the game, breaking a 5-all tie.
"When we tried to break him in, he pulled it, when we went away, he hit it away," Wyrick said of Meyer. "Hopefully some of our guys took notice of his approach."
Smith-Cotton collected 11 hits in the game.
"We gave up a lot of two-strike hits tonight and that's uncharacteristic for us," Wyrick said. "Hopefully that's just something we get over."
Davidson was able to get out of the inning without any more damage, getting a strikeout and lineout to strand runners at the corners.
Davidson then struck out the side in the eighth.
The Tigers had a chance to break the tie an inning earlier, but Helias third baseman Jeremiah Heckman snagged a bouncing grounder down the line and threw to first for the out, stranding a runner at third.
"He's been working on that," Wyrick said. "The hard work pays off. At some point what you've practiced is going to happen in the game."
Helias enters the Class 4 District 9 Tournament with an 18-7 record. The top-seeded Crusaders will face either fourth-seeded Sullivan or fifth-seeded Blair Oaks at 5 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals at Sullivan.
Wyrick said he was encouraged about the 10 hits the Crusaders had against the Tigers, who used five pitchers Thursday.
"You're never getting the same look off a guy twice and that may happen in districts," he said.