The final result depends on who you ask. What's clear is Jefferson City and Helias played a pretty typical crosstown showdown Tuesday night at Vivion Field.
"It doesn't matter if it's summer, fall, winter, spring, whatever," Jays coach Kyle Lasley said, "everyone's gonna treat it like it's the championship."
Helias 1 manufactured what ended up being the lone run scored in the top of the seventh inning.
Jefferson City thought it had tied it up with two outs in the bottom half.
With the bases loaded, Wyatt Fischer hit a popup that Helias catcher Ethan Holzhauser and pitcher James Schaefer both chased after between the first-base line and the mound.
Holzhauser ended up attempting a diving grab but the ball dropped to the ground and Grant Straub slid into home for a would-be tying run.
But interference was called on the batter and the game ended in a 1-0 victory for the Crusaders in the first game of the doubleheader.
"I honestly think the umpire had it right," Crusaders coach Garrett Wiggans said. "It doesn't matter where the fielder's at, if the runner runs into him, he's out. It's kind of a kind of crappy way to end a game, especially a well played baseball game like we had."
According to the rule book, "when a catcher and batter-runner going to first base have contact when the catcher is fielding the ball, there is generally no violation and nothing should be called."
"There's just no way a catcher's running up the line to try to make a play on the ball that's hit to the middle of the field," Lasley said.
The ruling stood and Helias went on to sweep Jefferson City by winning 11-2 in three innings in Game 2.
Game 1 was Jays lefty Jacob Roettgen vs. Helias right-hander Schaefer, who limited the Jays to four hits in seven innings.
"We know what James Shaeffer has," Wiggans said. "When he's in the zone and he's on he's hard to hit. Keeps people off balance. He's not going to blow you away. His velocity has actually increased during the summer. I don't know where that happened. But anytime he's in the zone, man, he'll get outs."
He did just that, not allowing more than one baserunner until the seventh as he struck out five and walked two.
Roettgen was dominant in his four innings for the Jays, striking out 10 while walking a pair and surrendering zero hits.
It was Roettgen's first appearance for the Jays this summer since he's been pitching for a travel team.
"He's going to be our dude next year," Lasley said. "He's a guy that's just gotten stronger, more athletic, his velocity's going up. It's just good to have him out here."
Helias' second of three hits for the game drove in the lone run. Alex Loethen sent a sluggish ground ball to the left side of the infield and Jacob Weaver was able to score with ease on the infield single.
"I told the guys all night and we'll tell tell them until the end of time, a lot of good things will happen if you put the ball in play," Wiggans said. "If you strike out or pop out, your chances of winning go down drastically."
In Game 2, Jaden Kolb and Cole Stumpe each had two hits for the Crusaders, who scored one run in the first, six in the fourth and four in the third.
Kaleb Haley pitched the first two innings for Helias, allowing two runs and two hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Kolb allowed one hit and struck out one in the third inning.
Helias 1 will be at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex on Thursday to host Fulton for a doubleheader.
Jefferson City is off to Wardsville to take on Blair Oaks on Thursday.