“Wednesday we traveled to Murray to play the Spartan team,” said Jeff Cisneros, Helper American Legion baseball coach. “We lead for most of the game but allowed them to come back in the final two innings and score the win.
Derick Anderson and Kyler Edgehouse combined efforts on the mound. Anderson pitched four great innings but began having some trouble in the fifth, according to Cisneros. Between walks and errors the Spartans were able to get back in the game.
“Anderson eventually gave up a grand slam to tie the game,” said Cisneros. “In the sixth inning we allowed them three more runs that we didn’t recover. Ultimately we stranded a lot of base runners and didn’t hit the ball well enough to get the win.”
According to Cisneros, Brandon Branch was the only player with two hits as he recorded a double and a single. Altogether Helper ended up with six hits as a team.
“We made the trip to Salt Lake 10 players short,” said Cisneros. “We have some guys that are injured and we had a few players that had other commitments. It really puts a lot of strain on our team to not be at full strength, especially when we have to travel to Salt Lake City.”
In the end Helper lost the game by three. The loss put Helper’s league record at seven wins and four losses.
On Friday Helper had a double-header against Hunter at home. Helper split the games losing the first by three but owning the second by the nine run mercy rule.
“The first game was one that we very easily should have won,” stated Cisneros. “We had several chances to win this game away but did not.”
According to Cisneros the last chance came in the sixth inning as Helper loaded the bases with no outs and failed to score. Hunter took advantage of the momentum and scored three runs in the seventh inning. Helper was unable to recover from the damage and lost by three.
“Gatlin Huntington started on the mound and was relieved in the second inning after allowing three runs. Kyle Esquibel pitched the next two innings allowing four runs. Beau Rich pitched two innings and allowed two runs. We put in Kyler Edgehouse in the seventh and he allowed three runs,” stated Cisneros. “We had a lot of hits, but we did not hit when we had guys in scoring position.” Even though we scored nine runs we left seven guys in scoring position throughout the game. This was a win that really got away from us.”
Esquibel, Draper, Branch and Edgehouse all had multiple hits, according to Cisneros. One of which was a homerun by Edgehouse in the third inning.
The next game of the double-header was a complete turnaround for Helper. They bombarded Hunter, having hits every inning and ended the game in the fifth by the nine run mercy rule.
“Jordan Gee started on the mound and once again Beau Rich came in and pitched well allowing only one run,” said Cisneros. “We played solid defense and hit the ball well the entire game. JD Sherman had three hits and Brandon Branch had two. I was very happy with our effort in the second game. It’s very easy to have a let down when you drop the first game of the double-header. We played with good energy and ended up with a good win.”
The win put Helper at eight wins, five losses in the league with three league games remaining.
“Over the past three weeks we have played 13 games and that has really taken some energy out of us. I’m hoping to get players healthy and to get a full squad of guys back before the state tournament starts on July 26.”
Helper is scheduled to play Price this Wednesday on the Price field at 5:30p.m.
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