The Merchants had another full week of games last week, including two on the road. Monday’s contest took the team to face American Leadership Academy (ALA), where Helper struggled to find consistency. ALA took advantage and won the game 8-4.
Dallen O’Neil went 3-4 with a triple and an RBI while Wyatt Falk went 3-4 with a double and an RBI. Beau Vea also hit a triple and went 2-4 with a ribbie.
“This loss was all about our lack of effort and focus,” stated head coach Dakota Cisneros. “Baseball is a game that on any given day, anyone can win, no matter the odds. ALA played harder than we did and they came out with the win.”
Helper then picked it up on Tuesday with a home game against Salem Hills. Kade Dimick got the nod on the mound and pitched well. “It was a typical Kade Dimick outing,” explained Cisneros. “He worked his way out of a couple jams and only surrendered two hits through five innings of work, striking out three batters and giving up one unearned run.”
Beau Vea came in for relief and pitched two scoreless innings as the Merchants took it 2-1. Derick Robison was perfect at the plate, going 2-2 with a walk and an RBI. Dimick helped himself with a double and an RBI while Rylan Hart hit a triple.
“Our defense played tremendous behind both of these guys. We made some great plays throughout the night and found ways to avoid giving up runs when Salem Hills had bases loaded in the third and fourth innings.” Cisneros continued, “We had a couple timely hits as well that ended up bringing around our two runs. Credit this win to our pitching and defense.”
Wednesday’s game was a rematch from the previous night, but this time at Salem Hills. Runs were easier to come by in this one as both pitchers struggled at times. The offense picked up the Merchants with seven runs in the fourth to take the lead.
Helper continued out in front and went on to win it 8-4. Bayton Nielson went 2-2 while Jordan Fossat led the team with three RBIs. Jacob Vasquez and Dallen O’Neil also added an RBI apiece.
“I was proud of the way we fought back and found a way to win this game.” Cisneros added, “It is hard to beat a team three times in a season, especially a good team, but that’s what we’ve done with Salem Hills so far.”
Cisneros concluded, “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 will play at Payson on Monday before hosting Viewmont on Friday at 8 p.m.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
