AURORA - After a 15-year break, the Helias Crusaders are going back to baseball's Final Four.
Zach Davidson tossed a two-hitter Thursday, striking out 12, as Helias blanked the Monett Cubs 7-0 in a Class 4 quarterfinal contest.
"He was dominant again," Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. "He was pounding the strike zone with both pitches.
"Hopefully he can keep it going."
Helias (23-4) will face either Borgia (20-7) or Sikeston (16-7) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. next Thursday at CarShield Field in O'Fallon. The quarterfinal between Borgia and Sikeston was postponed until 4 p.m. today due to wet field conditions in Washington.
The Crusaders' last trip to the Final Four came in 2004, when Helias finished fourth in Class 4, then the state's largest class.
Helias won the coin flip and was the home team Thursday.
Monett had runners at first and second with two outs in the first before Helias got out of the inning when catcher Michael Snyder threw out a runner trying to advance to third.
The Crusaders scored twice in the bottom of the second.
Zach Wolken hit a one-out single before moving to second on a walk to Snyder. Alex Loethen lined a first-pitch single to left to score Wolken for the first run of the game. One out later, Zach Woehr brought home courtesy runner Jason Binkley with an infield single to make it 2-0.
"I think everybody took a deep breath and relaxed," Wyrick said. "When Alex got that hit, everybody exhaled."
Helias scored three times in the third.
Trevor Austin led off with a single before Jason Weaver was safe on a fielder's choice to put runners at first and second. Davidson then reached on a infield single to load the bases.
Wolken then drove in Austin on a fielder's choice before Snyder singled home Weaver and courtesy runner Jason Haselhorst.
"That put Monett back on their heels, they were really going to have to fight from behind with the way Zach was pitching," Wyrick said.
Helias added its final two runs in the sixth. With two outs, Loethen was hit by a pitch before advancing to third on a single by Griffin Buschjost. Loehten then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0 before Woehr singled home Buschjost with the game's final run.
Davidson retired 15 of the last 17 Monett batters of the game.
The game was moved to Aurora from Monett due to wet field conditions.
"We've played here before, we were comfortable with the surroundings," Wyrick said. "And I think it helped us because it would have been a lot different atmosphere if we'd have been playing Monett at their place."
It was the first time Monett (19-7) has been shut out this season.
III
After Wednesday's 7-6 sectional win against Marshfield at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex, the decision was made to travel by bus later that night to spend the night in Springfield, then travel the remainder of the way for the game Thursday.
"We're fortunate we have the resources to do that," Wyrick said.
The team met Thursday morning to talk about the aftermath of the storm that tore through Jefferson City and the surrounding area late Wednesday night.
"We talked about how people were hurting back home," Wyrick said. "We knew we couldn't do anything about it then, but after we played the game and got back home, we could work to make a difference.
"They took to that, they agreed with it. And now they're ready to help."
The team plans to do clean- up work today at the Special Olympics facility as well as at a farm owned by a coach's family member that was damaged.
"We're trying to do our part to help out," Wyrick said.