One run, three runs, three runs.
Helias gave up just seven runs in three games, and that added up to a baseball district title for the Crusaders.
Helias continued its strong pitching run Friday through the Class 5 District 5 Tournament, posting a 9-3 victory against the Washington Blue Jays in the championship game at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.
“The pitching has been spot-on,” Helias catcher David Hofherr said. “We pounded the strike zone and got outs.”
With the win, Helias (17-8) advances to next Saturday’s quarterfinal game on the road at either Willard or Glendale. Those two play this afternoon at Willard for the District 6 title.
“We’re one game from the Final Four, one game away from what everybody shoots for at the beginning of the year,” Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. “I’m so happy for these guys, they deserve it.”
On Monday, Sam Wyrick threw seven strong innings in a 2-1 Helias win against Warrensburg. On Wednesday, Nate Roark threw six shutout innings in what turned out to be a 9-3 victory for the Crusaders against Borgia.
“We made teams get hits to score runs for the most part, I can’t say enough about how well the guys pitched in this tournament,” Chris Wyrick said.
Friday, it was Cole Peters turn on the mound for the Crusaders. It was just the second start of the season for the senior right-hander, who has been Helias’ top reliever this season.
He found out Thursday he was drawing the starting assignment.
“I really appreciated getting this start, getting the opportunity to pitch in a district title game is huge,” Peters said. “But you’re lying if you say you’re not nervous coming into a district title game.”
Gallery: Helias Baseball vs. Washington
Washington got on the board in the top of the first. Ethan Stellhorn hit a one-out triple to right center before Sam Paule followed with an RBI single to left. Helias got out of the inning with a double play.
“We didn’t panic, it’s a seven-inning game and one run wasn’t going to beat us,” Wyrick said.
Helias got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Jaden Kolb advanced to second on a throwing error to start the inning. He went to third on a fly ball to center by Sam Wyrick before scoring on a fly ball to center by Hofherr.
Washington took back the lead with a run in the third. Landon Boston led off with a walk and stole second before being sacrificed to third. Aden Pecka followed with a hard grounder to short that Sam Wyrick snared to his right and threw the ball home. Boston was called safe on a bang-bang play to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 advantage.
Peters threw 40 pitches through the first three innings.
“Started off rough, but bounced back and let my defense work,” Peters said.
Helias took the lead for good with two runs on just one hit in the bottom of the third.
Cole Stumpe was hit by a pitch to start the inning before Kolb walked to put runners at first and second. They moved up a base when a pickoff throw to second ended up in center field.
Wyrick drove in Stumpe with a grounder to second to tie it at 2 before Hofherr then singled to center to score Kolb.
Drew Miller reached second and courtesy runner Trey Rice advanced to third on a throwing error before Brandon Scheulen drew a walk to load the bases. But a pop-up to short and a grounder to the mound ended the threat.
“We had a tough time squaring balls up early,” Wyrick said.
After Peters set down the Blue Jays in order in the top of the fourth, Helias stranded a runner at third in the bottom of the inning.
“I was hoping those third and fourth innings weren’t going to come back to bite us,” Wyrick said.
Helias broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth, scoring six runs on just three hits.
“Scoring runs is what the game is about and nobody cares how you do it as long as you do it,” Wyrick said.
Hofherr led off with a check-swing single to short left. After a strikeout, Scheulen hit a chopper that bounced under the glove of the first baseman into right field to send courtesy runner Rice to third.
Nick Jeffries then hit a grounder to third that was bobbled, then thrown away at first base to score Rice. Underwood then walked before Luke Cavender was hit by a pitch to score Scheulen to make it 5-2.
Jeffries scored on a wild pitch before Stumpe walked to re-load the bases. Kolb then singled to right to score Underwood and Cavender. Stumpe then made it 9-2 when he scored on a sacrifice fly by Sam Wyrick.
“That’s baseball,” Chris Wyrick said. “Get a guy on, get a guy over and get him in.”
Staked to a seven-run lead, Peters got a double play to end the top the sixth inning.
“I figured out I couldn’t strike everybody out, so I let my defense work,” Peters said.
That ended Peters’ day on the mound. He allowed one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out two.
“Those were six great innings for us,” Hofherr said.
Cole Scheulen came on to pitch the seventh, giving up a run on two hits while recording one strikeout. The final out came on a liner to Sam Wyrick at shortstop that set off a big celebration on the infield.
This is Helias’ fifth district title in the last six seasons of competition, with no 2020 season due to COVID-19. The Crusaders are looking for the 13th Final Four appearance in program history with a win next Saturday against either top-ranked Willard (30-7) or second-ranked Glendale (25-6).
“Those are two really, really good teams,” Wyrick said.
The Class 5 Final Four will be held June 3-4 at U.S. Ballpark in Ozark.