It took nine innings of baseball, but the Helias Crusaders were able to walk out of Vivion Field on Tuesday with a 6-2 victory against the Jefferson City Jays in a Central Missouri Activities Conference matchup.
On a day dominated by both starting pitchers, the Crusaders saw their bats catch fire in the top of the ninth inning as they erupted for four runs to grab a stranglehold on the game.
“It was good to see us not quit and keep battling and grinding it out, that’s the type of game that was,” Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. “Every time you play those guys, it’s a grind, both teams want to win it so bad. It was good to see us keep with it, keep with the game plan and get the job done in the ninth.”
David Hofherr led off the ninth with a walk and Nate Roark moved him to second with a single to right field. Brandon Scheulen was able to get a bunt down with two strikes on the next batter and all three runners were safe after the throw to third base was a fraction late.
After a short fly out to left kept the bases loaded and collected the first out, Nick Jeffries was able to sneak a ground ball past the diving Jordan Martin at shortstop to drive in a pair of runs and take a 4-2 lead. Two batters later, Cole Stumpe crushed a 3-2 fastball off the top of the left-field fence to drive in another pair and grab the commanding lead.
It was Jefferson City that struck first, though.
Brody Johns started the rally in the third with a one-out infield single that was followed by a single to left field by Connor Earleywine. Tripp Maassen followed with an infield single that scored a run after the throw to first base found its way down the right-field line. Martin was able to make the game 2-0 as the next batter after his groundball to short was not fielded cleanly and allowed Earleywine to stroll home.
For most of the night, it did not look like the Crusaders were going to be able to touch Martin on the mound. In the first start of his career, Martin was dominant. He retired the first 12 batters he faced while striking out five.
“He had pretty good command of all of his pitches, him working ahead was probably the biggest thing,” Jefferson City coach Kyle Lasley said. “He got ahead of batters and he could kind of pitch backwards from there. We feel pretty confident, as a defense and as coaches, with him on the mound. It was good to get him that first start, especially in this atmosphere and a game like this, and hopefully it will pay off moving in to these next couple of weeks.”
Gallery: Jefferson City Baseball vs. Helias
To lead off the fifth inning, Martin allowed a walk to Nate Roark for his first baserunner allowed. Roark reached third after an infield single and throwing error put runners on the corners with one out. The Crusaders tried a hit-and-run with Jeffries at the plate, but a line drive found Johns’ glove at shortstop and started an inning-ending double play.
Martin retired the first two batters of the top of the sixth inning, but a fly ball to deep center field by Jaden Kolb bounced out of Maassen’s glove and allowed Kolb to reach second base. Sam Wyrick followed with an infield single and moved up to second base on a wild pitch.
Hofherr capitalized by sending a 2-2 pitch into right field that drove home both runners after Sam Wyrick was able to slide around the tag at the plate to tie the game.
“That’s what we preach with two strikes, put the ball in play the other way and hit the ball hard somewhere,” Chris Wyrick said. “You have to put the ball in play to give yourself a chance to score. If you don’t put it in play, there’s no chance for us to score. David did a good job of learning from his two previous at-bats by letting the ball travel and hitting it the other way. That was a huge hit for us.”
Jefferson City saw its best chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Earleywine reached base with a one-out walk and stole second base. Maassen grounded a ball to the shortstop after and Earleywine tried to move up to third base but was thrown out. Martin followed by lining a ball into right-center that would have scored Earleywine had he stayed put prior, but instead left runners on first and third with two outs. Sam Wyrick was able to get the call on a fastball on the outside corner in a 3-2 count and escaped danger to send the game to extra innings.
“That’s just a mental mistake,” Lasley said. “We had a couple mental mistakes tonight, but that stuff happens. It shouldn’t happen, but it does. It’s just how are we going to bounce back from some of those things and how can we move forward with practice and the rest of our games this week.”
Helias and Jefferson City each stranded a runner on base in the eighth inning before Helias broke it open in the ninth.
Martin pitched eight innings for Jefferson City (6-19, 0-4 CMAC) while allowing two unearned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out seven.
Martin also led the Jays’ offense with three hits and an RBI while Earleywine added a pair of hits.
Sam Wyrick pitched seven innings for Helias (10-8, 1-2 CMAC) and allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Cole Peters pitched two scoreless innings to close it out for the Crusaders and struck out three while allowing two hits.
Kolb, Sam Wyrick, Hofherr, Roark, Billy Underwood, Jeffries and Stumpe all collected a hit for Helias.
Jefferson City will look to rebound Thursday when it travels to Sedalia to play Smith-Cotton at 5 p.m.
Helias will look to pick up another conference win at 5 p.m. today against Capital City at Vivion Field.