The Helper Merchants responded to Monday night’s loss to American Leadership Academy with back-to-back wins over Salem Hills Tuesday and Wednesday night, improving their league record to 4-2.
Starting the back-to-back set on Tuesday Helper protected home field by earning a 2-1 victory in a defensive battle. Wednesday night the venue switched, but the outcome also favored Helper as they walked away with an 8-5 win.
Kade Dimick earned the win on the mound in Tuesday night’s home contest as he allowed two hits and struck out three batters in five innings of work. Dimick, who has been lights out for Helper on the hill, worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in both the third and fourth innings. Beau Vea recorded the final six outs as he gave up just one hit and fanned one batter in relief.
“We made some great plays throughout the night and found ways to avoid giving up runs when Salem Hills had bases loaded,” said manager Dakota Cisneros. “We had a couple of timely hits as well that ended up bringing in our two runs. Credit this win to our pitching and defense.”
Derick Robinson was the lone batter to record multiple hits as he finished 2-2 with two singles, one RBI and one run scored. Dimick brought in the other run as he finished 1-3 with a double. Rylan Hart, Dallen O’Neil and Ridge Nelson each contributed one hit a piece.
While the outcome played out in favor of Helper Wednesday night’s game brought more offense as the Merchants found a way to secure the three run win.
Helper’s Jordan Fossat pitched the first three innings as he surrendered four hits and four runs, two of which were unearned. Vea once again came in relief as he pitched both the fourth and fifth frame, giving up one earned run.
The Merchants received a boost offensively as they produced seven runs in the top of the fourth inning, taking the lead and eventually earning the win. Due to weather and time the game was called in the fifth inning, resulting in a Helper win.
Fossat helped his own cause at the plate as he ended 2-3 with a single, double and three RBIs. Jacob Vasquez brought in one run on a RBI single as he finished 1-1. O’Neil also plated and scored one run as he finished 1-3.
“A 2-1 record on the week is not what we were hoping for, but it easily could have been worse,” said Cisneros. “Our team is capable of a lot more than we showed this week. I hope we take some things from these games and use them as a learning experience in order to better ourselves for the rest of the summer. We have an exceptional team when we want to be exceptional. We need to bring effort, energy, and focus to each game, and when we do that we are extremely tough.”
Helper’s 19U team will take the remainder of the week off before returning to the field on Monday.