COLUMBIA - Jaden Kolb and Ethan Holzhauser each had two hits and two RBI on Wednesday, lifting the Helias Crusaders to a 6-4 win against the Hickman Kewpies in their Central Missouri Activities Conference opener.
In the top of the first inning, Kolb had an RBI single and Holzhauser followed with an RBI double to put the Crusaders ahead 2-0. The pair also had RBI hits in the fifth, but this time it was Kolb with the RBI double and Holzhauser with the RBI single.
With Helias leading 4-1 after five innings, Zach Wolken drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth and Quinton Baker scored on an error in the seventh for the Crusaders' final run.
Hickman scored twice in the sixth and added another run in the seventh. The Kewpies had the bases loaded and the tying run on second base, but Helias' Alex Loethen got a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.
Cole Peters was the winning pitcher for Helias. In 5 innings, he gave up three unearned runs on five hits and struck out three. Loethen threw the last 1 innings for the save, allowing two runs on four hits.
Cole Stumpe finished with two hits and two runs scored for the Crusaders.
Braden Hemmer and Ray Schroeder each had three hits for Hickman (4-3, 1-1 CMAC).
Helias (7-2, 1-0 CMAC) begins play Friday in the Jays Baseball Classic. The Crusaders will host Troy-Buchanan at 4:30 p.m. and Blair Oaks at 6:45 p.m. in pool-play action at the American Legion Post 5 Sports Complex.