The Helias Crusaders righted the ship in their first game Friday.
They couldn't get it done in their second, then scratched out a victory late Friday night to advance to today's third-place game in the Capital City Invitational.
The Crusaders defeated the Blair Oaks Falcons 12-2 in five innings to start play Friday morning at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.. The final score is a little deceptive as Helias scored seven times in the bottom of the fifth to win the game by the run rule.
Helias scored three times in the first inning and added two in the second to take a 5-0 lead.
Blair Oaks got on the board with a run in the third and were poised to have a big inning in the fourth when its first four batters reached on three walks and an infield single to make it 5-2 with nobody out.
Dawson Meyer came on in relief of starter Jacob Weaver and got Helias out of the jam with a pop out, strikeout and groundout.
"That might have been the ballgame, we were reeling a little bit because we lost a little bit of focus," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "Who knows where that game was headed if he doesn't do that?
"He got us back to where we needed to be in the dugout."
Meyer then set down the Falcons in order in the top of the fifth to keep the score 5-2.
"Throw strikes, it's no mystery," Wyrick said.
Helias sent 11 batters to the plate in its seven-run fifth, getting four hits and six walks off three Blair Oaks relief pitchers.
Meyer had a two-run double in the inning, while Michael Snyder drove in the game-ender with a single to right.
Weaver had three hits to pace 10-hit Helias attack. Trevor Austin, Zach Woehr, Weaver, Peyton Huddleston and Jason Binkley all scored twice. Snyder, who drove in three runs, and Zach Paschal all had two hits.
The bats went silent in the second game, a 4-0 loss to the Hickman Kewpies.
"We didn't compete," Wyrick said. "We have to fight our teammates, we didn't have enough quality at-bats."
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Hickman put together two singles, a double and a throwing error to score twice.
The Kewpies (11-2) picked up two insurance runs in the sixth on three singles and another throwing error.
"If our defense is solid and we play catch, they don't get a couple of extra runs and we have a chance to do some things late in the game," Wyrick said.
Helias managed just four hits against Hickman starter Kyle Brown, who went the distance in the shutout.
"I think he threw 95 pitches and I bet 75 of them were for strikes," Wyrick said. "And I bet we took half of those. You can't score runs when you do that, that's not competing, you can't compete when you take strike after strike after strike."
At 95 pitches, Brown was close to reaching the mandated limit for the game.
"If we have three or four more quality at-bats somewhere in the game, we're probably facing another pitcher in the sixth or seventh innings," Wyrick said. "I don't want to take anything away from (Brown), he threw very well, but we weren't doing what we needed to do at the plate."
In the seventh for Helias, Weaver led off with a double. One out later, Zach Wolken walked to put runners at first and second. But Brown got a pop out and fly out to end the game.
James Schaefer went the distance on the mound for the Crusaders. He allowed 10 hits and no walks, while striking out three.
"With more innings and opportunities, he's going to get better," Wyrick said.
Helias (9-1, ranked No. 2 in Class 4) closed out pool play with a 3-0 win against the Russellville Indians.
Helias starter Kaleb Haley and Russellville starter Austin Roe matched zeroes on the scoreboard through the first four innings.
The Crusaders got on the board with a run in the fifth. Woehr led off with a single and Austin followed with a single of his own. Woehr advanced to third and Austin moved up to second on the throw.
After a strikeout, Zach Davidson hit a ball just in front of the plate as Woehr came home to score.
Helias added two runs in the sixth, With one out, Alex Loethen reached on an error before Binkley beat out an infield single. The runners moved up a base on a groundout before Loethen and Binkley came home to score on an error.
The Crusaders had just four hits in the game.
"We still need to square more balls up, but we're going to get back at it (today)," Wyrick said. "We're going to try to figure this out, take some pride in what we're doing."
Haley threw 70 pitches to get the complete-game shutout. He allowed four hits and no walks while striking out nine.
"That's the Kaleb we've come to know," Wyrick said. "He just filled up the strike zone and we needed every bit of it."
Roe pitched five innings, allowing three hits.
Helias will face Eureka at 10 a.m. today in the third-place game at Vivion Field.