Helena baseball off to 4-1 start
Published 4:26 pm Monday, February 27, 2017
By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer
After going 2-0 on opening day, the Helena Huskies baseball team kept the momentum going after playing three more games Feb. 24-25, going 2-1 during that stretch.
Helena dropped a Feb. 24 game to Grissom, but rebounded nicely on Feb. 25, defeating both Hartselle and Bob Jones in a doubleheader.
Grissom 10 – Helena 3
Grissom handed Helena its first loss of the season on Feb. 24, after putting together multiple innings where they scored at least two runs to win 10-3.
Neither team could push a run across in the first two innings and it was Grissom that came up with a big inning in the bottom of the third to break the scoreless tie.
Grissom scored four runs in the inning on one swing of the bat from Justin Fosque.
With two outs and the bases loaded and facing a 2-2 count, Fosque hammered a ball over the centerfield wall for a grand slam to put Grissom up 4-0 to grab momentum.
Grissom would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a wild pitch and an RBI single to extend their lead to 6-0.
The deficit would be too much to overcome for the Huskies, even though they would cut the 6-0 lead in half in the top of the fifth inning.
Brett Walton scored Helena’s first run of the game on an RBI single to score Braylon Moss. Nick Ragsdale later doubled in the inning to score Trevor Bell and Jake Busby to make it a 6-3 game.
That would be as close as Helena would get as Grissom responded with three more runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning and eventually scored one more run to make it a 10-3 final. Helena was shutout in six of the games seven innings.
Fosque led Grissom with two hits, two runs and four RBIs in the win.
Helena starting pitcher Troy Cordrey pitched three innings, allowing six runs, three hits and struck out one.
Helena 11 – Hartselle 0
Helena had a quick turnaround after a 10-3 loss to Grissom on Feb. 24, as Hartselle awaited the Huskies for a Saturday morning game on Feb. 25, and Helena responded in a big way.
Helena starting pitcher Brooks Brophy toed the rubber against Hartselle and would dominate from the opening pitch.
The Huskies offense gave Brophy an early 3-0 lead to work with and Brophy would not let it go to waste.
Brophy threw a complete game shutout and allowed just three hits over a span of five innings in a shortened contest due to a mercy rule. Brophy also recorded five strikeouts in the win.
After scoring just three runs in seven innings the night before, Helena exploded for 11 runs on eight hits in five innings.
In addition to a stellar pitching performance, Brophy also collected three hits and two RBIs at the plate.
Helena’s Sam Praytor scored three times, collected a hit and also drew two walks in the game.
Helena 10 – Bob Jones 4
In the second game of the doubleheader, Helena took advantage of some Bob Jones pitching mishaps as the Huskies broke the game open late to win 10-4.
The first six innings of the game were a back-and-forth affair as both teams were tied 4-4 heading into the final inning.
Helena batted first in the top of the seventh inning and the Huskies would tack on more than enough insurance runs to win the game.
Helena scored six runs in the inning thanks to four straight walks and a hit by pitch in the first five at-bats in the inning.
Up 7-4, Brophy would score the next run on a passed ball and Nash Adams would score on a sacrifice fly. The tenth run of the game came after the Bob Jones pitching staff surrendered another walk.
With a six run cushion heading into the bottom half of the seventh, Helena’s Landon Green would close out the game forcing two groundouts and a strikeout while allowing just one single.
Helena’s Josh Daugherty led Helena with two RBIs in the game and Moss collected two runs.
Next up, Helena (4-1) will travel to Cullman to take on Sparkman on March 1, at 5 p.m.