Helias 1 posts two victories against Capital City

Capital City first baseman Jamisen Schwarzer reaches for the ball just as Helias' Jacob Watson makes it safely to first base during the second game of Tuesday night's doubleheader at Capital City High School.
Capital City first baseman Jamisen Schwarzer reaches for the ball just as Helias' Jacob Watson makes it safely to first base during the second game of Tuesday night's doubleheader at Capital City High School.

The Helias Crusaders definitely have the edge in experience.

The Crusaders feature eight graduated seniors on a team in the developmental summer league. It showed Tuesday night.

"You can see we're getting better each night we play, we're geared up every Tuesday and Thursday," Helias coach Garrett Wiggans said after the Crusaders swept a doubleheader from the Capital City Cavaliers by scores of 10-0 and 7-0. "We are clicking on all cylinders right now."

On the other hand, the Cavaliers are still trying to develop as a team after missing out on what would have been their inaugural varsity season this spring.

"There's nothing to hang our heads about, for a few innings, we were right with them," Cavaliers coach Brett Skinner said. "We saw some positives and playing a team like that makes us better.

"A lot of those guys are going to play at the next level and it's a chance for our guys to see what they need to do to get to that level."

In the opener, Helias jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when Zach Paschael scored on a bases-loaded walk to Alex Loethen. The Crusaders broke the game open with a five-run third. Peyton Huddleston had a two-run single to key the inning.

Helias then added two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Paschal had an RBI double in the fourth, with Ethan Holzhauser driving in the other run with a single, in the fifth. Trevor Austin tripled with two out and scored on a balk. Jake Weaver and Zach Wolken followed with consecutive doubles to make it 10-0.

Wolken, who will be a senior next spring, finished with three hits and a walk in the game.

"As a freshman, we weren't sure what we were going to get," Wiggans said. "But he had a growth spurt and he's developed so much as a player. His mechanics at the plate are so good, we're looking forward to him being a big part of our team next spring."

Jason Haselhorst pitched the first four innings for the Crusaders. He allowed one hit and one walk while striking out three.

"He was someone we were going to look at as being a big part of our bullpen this spring," Wiggans said. "He can throw strikes, he kept it in the zone with some good stuff."

James Schaefer pitched the fifth for the Crusaders, retiring the side in order with one strikeout.

Grayson Jones had the lone hit for the Cavaliers.

In the second game, four Crusader pitchers combined to no-hit the Cavaliers in the five-inning contest. Jaden Kolb worked the first two innings. Zane Crocker-Nierman, Kaleb Haley and Huddleston each pitched an inning.

Helias jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when a grounder by Griffin Buschjost drove home Haselhorst, who led off the inning with a double, Helias then scored twoice in the second with Weaver and Wolken picking up RBI.

The Crusaders made it 4-0 in the third when Paschal's fly to right plated Alex Barchenski. Helias added three runs in the fourth on three hits a walk and an error.

The doubleheader was the first baseball action at the impressive new facility at Capital City.

"It's really nice," Skinner said. "The field plays great and when it all gets done, it's going to be a fun place to play."

The Cavaliers are now 0-6 in the league.

"We had some guys that were pretty down after last week," Skinner said. "But we explained that we lost our season and we have a lot of work to do in a shorter amount of time than we would have. It's just time to do it now."

Capital City is hosting two open fields per week to accelerate the process as much as possible.

"If we can take something from each one of those to games, we believe it's a success," Skinner said. "And we've done that. I think our defense, especially in the first game, was pretty good and that's something to build on."

The Cavaliers' depth took a hit Monday when pitcher Taggert Bodenstab suffered a broken arm. It caused Skinner to shuffle the duties of his available pitchers.

"We've got a few arms and we want to try to equal things out when we decide to use them," he said. "It's just a matter of getting a little stronger and working on our conditioning."

Capital City plays Thursday against Helias' other varsity squad at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.

"They are going to have a good team in the future, you can see the pieces," Wiggans said.

Helias (5-1) is back in action Thursday at Blair Oaks.

"Thursday is likely going to be a different story," Wiggans said. "That's a good Blair Oaks team, they're a big rival and I think both teams will be looking forward to it."

The first game will start at 6 p.m.