The Helias Crusaders didn't even practice against live pitching until Monday.
It showed a little bit Tuesday in a doubleheader split against Fatima. They found their strokes Thursday as Helias scored a combined 27 runs in six innings at the plate in sweeping a summer league twinbill against the New Bloomfield Wildcats at Babe Ruth Park.
"I guess we should play out here all the time because the guys swung it pretty well," Helias coach Garrett Wiggans said. "We saw some good pitching in Fatima and it helped us getting our timing down a little better tonight.
"The more live pitching you see, the better you're going to hit."
It was New Bloomfield's first games in the league after being off for the opening night of the league Tuesday.
"It's all about us coming out and playing baseball," New Bloomfield coach Justin Forsythe said. "It's important for us to have our four seniors come out here and let them lace up their cleats for some games this summer.
"It's just great to be back on the field."
The seniors - Robbie Bradley, Nash Quick, A.J. Webb and William Rogers - all wanted to play in the league.
"None of them are going to play college baseball, they just wanted to play and enjoy it one last time," Forsythe said.
Helias used a pair of big first innings to sweep the doubleheader by scores of 12-0 and 15-2 in games shortened to four innings by run-rule.
"I told our guys coming into the game we were going to be rusty," Forsythe said. "We haven't seen live pitching and we haven't thrown much off the mound. That was my biggest worry tonight, we would try to do too much on the mound and get hurt. We wanted to stay healthy through the summer."
The Crusaders scored six times in the first in the opener, capped by a two-run home run by Jaden Kolb. In the second inning, Griffin Buschjost led off with a single before scoring on a two-run home run to right by Zach Wolken.
Trevor Austin, who hit a ball to the fence in the first inning, followed with a solo home run to left to make it 9-0. Jake Weaver and Jason Haselhorst also drove in runs in the inning as Helias led 11-0.
Austin, a graduated senior who has signed with the University of Missouri, hit another solo home run in the third to make it 12-0.
"He's a Division I player for a reason," Wiggans said. "It's awesome to see him play, but it stings a little bit if you think about what we all missed out on in not getting to watch him play in the spring."
Alex Loethen got the win on the mound for the Crusaders. He allowed three hits and one walk while recording seven strikeouts in four innings.
"He's an arm we're going to have to go to next spring and he showed today he's someone we can trust," Wiggans said. "Alex isn't going to blow it by anybody, but he has three pitches he can throw for strikes to get people out and that's so important in the high school game."
In the second game, the Crusaders sent 18 batters to the plate in the first inning to jump out to a 13-0 lead on its way to a 15-2 victory.
"Helias is a great ballclub, we know they had high expectations for the spring," Forsythe said. "It's good for us to play good competition like this and hopefully get inspired to improve and get to the highest level we can get."
New Bloomfield answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second. Bradley had a double to score Michael Saleny, while Ashton Shuster scored when a pitch got to the backstop.
In the bottom of the inning, Quinton Baker hit a sacrifice fly to score Alec Barchenski to make it 14-2. In the third, Kaleb Hale doubled home Haselhorst for Helias final run.
Three Helias pitchers combined on a two-hitter with three walks and five strikeouts in the nightcap.
"We're in a different boat than everybody else in this league in we play fall baseball as well," Forsythe said. "We get to come back in August and get ready for the fall baseball.
"We want to use this time to work on some things, take a few weeks off, then hit it hard in August against some competition our size."
The games were originally scheduled to be played in New Bloomfield, but were moved to Babe Ruth Park due to wet conditions in New Bloomfield after Wednesday night's heavy rain.
"We're not after wins and losses," Forsythe said. "We're going to break down individual things, praise some things, correct some things and go from there.
"It's just great to get out and play again."
Helias is back in action Tuesday at Capital City. New Bloomfield is slated to host Helias's second varsity team next Tuesday.