The big news in Helper this summer is the new swimming pool that all can splash around in. The continuing news is that next door at the baseball park, Jeff Cisneros has the Helper American Legion baseball team playing well again this summer as they are currently in third place in the 12-team Salt Lake Valley region. This season’s roster includes eight current and former Emery Spartans playing key roles for the team.
Playing for Helper are 2007 Emery graduates Kyler Edgehouse and Ryan Draper. Also playing are 2008 graduates Jordan Gee and Blake Mortensen. Current Emery High players on the team are Colby Snow and Gatlan Huntington, seniors, Derrick Allred, a junior, and sophomore Kash Jewkes.
Last week Helper won two games in league play as they defeated Olympus 16-5 and East 14-0. With the two wins, Helper stood 5-1 in league play. Cyprus led with a 7-0 record and Taylorsville was next with 6-1 record. Helper is the only team in the league that is not from the Wasatch front.
Helper hosted a tournament over the weekend and did not fare well in it. They lost 9-4 to Vernal, a team that they defeated soundly two weeks ago in a double header in a Friday night game. Helper then lost to Virgin Valley of Nevada 9-5 and the Idaho Regulators on Saturday. On Sunday, Helper easily defeated the Price legion team 13-3 and then in a game against Desert Hills of St George, Helper played their younger players and the game ended in a 7-7 tie due to the time limit.
At Olympus, Ryan Draper helped his team take the lead in the fourth inning with a single. Kyler Edgehouse had the big hit of the inning though with a 3-run homerun. Edgehouse would also double later in the game.
Against East, Draper was 2 for 2 and Edgehouse had a single and a sacrifice fly as the team batted well and fielded well. JD Sherman led the team going 3 for 4.
Friday night against Vernal, Edgehouse and Sherman both had doubles in the game as well as solo homeruns in the loss. Helper had the bases loaded twice in the game and did not score. Helper also stranded a total of 12 runners. Defensively, Helper had three errors in the game as they let a game slip away that they should have won.
Gatlan Huntington pitched the first three innings of the Virgin Valley game before giving way to Josh Denison. Edgehouse had a double in the game. Helper gave up too many walks as pitching and defense did not contribute all that was necessary to grab a win. Against the Idaho team, Helper’s poor play continued. Draper was the only player to have more than one base hit in the game. Colby Snow came in as a relief pitcher in the later innings.
Snow then pitched against Price and did a good job. Draper continued hitting well as he had a double in the game.
Emery baseball players make splash on Helper team
"Blake Mortensen, Helper catcher snares the ball out of the air, too late for the tag."