Helper American Legion baseball continues their season as they sit in first place. The weeks of play will conclude at the end of the month with the state tournament at Kearns.
Coach Jeff Cisneros said, “We played Taylorsville 19 and under team and won 6-5. Dylan Vogrinec took the mound for us and pitched a complete game and got the win. I thought Dylan did a nice job. He hurt himself with a few walks but overall he pitched a great game to get the win. Taylorsville jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and looked as if we were still on vacation.
“We had a week layoff for the Fourth of July and it looked early like our team was still on vacation. The game had to be moved to C.E.U’s field because our field in Helper had been watered all day and was unplayable and it took us a few innings to get going. Our bats finally woke up in the fifth inning as we scored four runs. The big hits in the inning came from Jaren McCourt and Clay Finkbiner. When the inning was over the game was tied at four. Taylorsville took the lead in the sixth inning as they scored a run and the score going into the seventh inning was 5-4. Haden Basinger lead things off in the seventh inning with an infield hit. Julian Tamllos followed with a big double in the gap that scored Hayden and tied the game. Julian moved to third on a throwing error and we had the winning run at third with no outs.
“Kash Jewkes hit a 2-2 pitch down the line past the third baseman for the game winner. Overall we ended with nine hits but made four errors that cost a few runs early in the game. I was proud of the way our guys battled back and got the win. I was on them the entire game to get going and they finally responded. The game meant we took a two game lead on Taylorsville in the league standings and with the win our league record is now at 9-1.
“Many of the players stepped up and contributed in the win and it was good to see some confidence in some of our young guys grow,” said Cisneros.
Here is a quick rundown of our recent game. “We played the Kearns 19u team in SLC. We lost 7-4. Derek Young pitched the entire game and really did a great job against this older Kearns team. We scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but we came out and made four errors in the first two innings and allowed them six runs. After that we settled down and played good defense. Our bats struggled all night though as we only had five hits. I was disappointed in the way we started the game even though we scored three runs. Our concentration was not there and our focus was somewhere else. The loss puts us at 11-2 and we are still in first place. We play at Murray tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Just one game not two like the schedule says.We need to pick up at least one win in the next two games to be assured of first place in the league,” said Cisneros.
Helper Legion finished up the season at Herriman on Saturday at 2 p.m. If they win they will take first in the league. The all-star game is also tomorrow. Hayden Basinger, Gage Bigelow, Kash Jewkes and Gage Bell will represent Helper Legion. The game is at 7 p.m. at Ken Price Park.
Helper American Legion
"The Helper American Legion team: Hayden Basinger, Bryce Blackburn, Josh Jones, Kash Jewkes, Dylan Vogrinec, Gage Bigelow, Seth Tryon, Hunter Huntington, Tyler Procarione, Gage Bell, Dakota Cisneros, Julian Tamllos, Dominic Rondinelli, Jaren McCourt, Tanner Lake, Clay Finkbiner, Jordan Blanc, and Derek Young. Coaches are Dave Hrienson and Dusty Lister, and the manager is Jeff Cisneros. "