ETV News stock photo by Jeff Barrett.
Jaxon Carlisle returned to the mound for Helper on Tuesday night when the Merchants took on Pleasant Grove. Carlisle was coming off a solid outing where he pitched a complete game shutout against Springville last week.
However, Tuesday night was a different story for Carlisle as he found himself behind batters, which led to several walks.
“Jaxon pitches really well when he starts on top of hitters and throws strikes. But he got in some trouble when he walked guys and put our defense in some tough situations,” said head coach Dakota Cisneros. “Overall, it was a solid outing from him.”
Carlisle lasted 4 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on only one hit and five walks. Helper’s offense stumbled out of the gates but found some life later in the game. The Merchants only managed to score two runs through four innings before they exploded with 12 runs in the final three innings.
“That’s why you play seven [innings] through… I would like to see more consistency in our bats still,” said Cisneros.
Kaleb Nelson went 2-5 with a double and drove in a team-high five RBIs. When talking about Nelson, Cisneros said, “He was our anchor in our offense for this game and he did his job at the plate all day for us.”
The Merchants had a big sixth inning where they scored five runs, which was sparked by JP Powell’s triple. Rylan Hart added an RBI and went 2-4 with two runs scored. Anthony Jones also had two hits in five appearances and one RBI in the contest.
Tyler Wright closed out the game for Helper, going 2 2/3 innings while only surrendering one run to seal the 14-4 victory.
“When we put an entire game together, we are a tough team to beat,” Cisneros said. “I am very proud of what we did overall as a team.”
The Merchants will be back home on Wednesday night for their final regular season home games against Salem Hills. The games will start at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.