April 7, 2021

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- The first few games of a spring baseball season are indeed special.

Not because of the quality play, necessarily. because that's usually a bit less than special.

But after a long winter's nap, the weather is warming, the grass is greening, the arms are loosening ... time to get back to the game we love.

Play ball!

Well, this has been a long winter's nap, all right. it's been two winters worth of snoozing away from baseball.

Enough already.

We all grew very sick of this virus. Let's go back to wearing a mask so you don't get face smashed to pieces.

“It was an unfortunate year for everybody,” Helias coach Chris Wyrick said. “It’s great to be back playing again ... we really haven’t discussed last year that much

“Kids might use that as an excuse, and we don’t wanna make excuses for anything.“

Still, the lost season was greatly disappointing, especially for the team that had so many seniors returning from the Final Four team of 2019

No one felt that sting of disappointment more than Mizzou signee Trevor Austin, who was poised to make the Helias record book his own.

“We really would’ve liked to see Trevor finish it out and see what he could do,“ Wyrick said. “It was that way for the whole state.”

Two years later --- and with such great turnover in the lineup --- the bottom line hasn't changed. Winning.

After starting the season 1-2, the Crusaders reeled off six straight wins, the first of those five in Florida.

“Our first two games this season, we didn’t come through in crucial situations,” Wyrick said. “But in Florida, I think we learned how to compete for seven innings, we had some real battles.

“If we learned anything in Florida, it was that, how to compete.”

They needed to compete, because they could’ve gone 0-5.

“We saw some pretty high-quality teams, they all had arms,” Wyrick said. “We saw a lot of good pitching and that’s what we wanted to see.“

This trip was about a lot more than just baseball, as it should’ve been since they were in Florida. Especially since the team was done with baseball activities at 2 or 230 p.m. every day.

“They had plenty of free time to get to spend together,” Wyrick said. “Spend some time at the beach, and just get away from school and baseball for a while and just being a kid in a pretty nice place.

“Some of them grew up during the trip and some of them found some guys they can lean on when things might be getting a little tough. It’s kind of a cliché, but we came together as a team, we really did.

“It was a good experience for everybody.”

The Crusaders (6-2) have been good where it matters most, on the mound.

“Our pitchers have kept us in every game,” Wyrick said. “When they figure it out and start throwing a bunch of strikes, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.“

The staff is young, but does have a senior anchor in righthander Jake Weaver.

“If Jake can pound the zone early,” Wyrick said, “I think he can be successful.”

Sophomore Nate Roark, an imposing 6-3 lefthander, has a chance to grow into something special.

“Being 6-3, he’s going to have that down angle that can be tough to hit, Wyrick said. “If he keeps the ball down and throws strikes, he’s going to get a lot of ground balls and swinging strikes.

“We have a lot of guys who need to throw strikes and be efficient with their pitches.”

Junior Brandon Scheulen can work in both starting and relief, and could end up being the staff’s workhorse.

Senior Alex Loethen, when he’s not playing shortstop, will see some time on the hill, as will juniors Cole Peters and Kaden Hampson.

Weaver is batting lead off —- “We needed somebody who could get the ball in play and has good speed, and he gives us that.”

Senior first baseman Zach Wohlken is solid in the three hole, while junior DH Sam Schell is off to a good start in the early going.

The team has an abundance of speed, allowing players to chase down balls in the gaps at the spacious Legion Field, not to mention what it can do on offense.

“We want to create as much chaos on the bases as we can,” Wyrick said.

Just having the chance to create chaos after last year is a welcome sight. It doesn’t matter if the games are played in the long shadow of the stadium where the Super Bowl was played in Tampa this year, or the short shadow of the Cole county fair ...

Play ball!

“I didn’t know what to do with myself for about six months last year,” Wyrick said. “This is a lot better than not playing, that’s for sure.”

Chris Leuckel

Two years later, Helias bottom line hasn't changed --- winning

Loeffler's Link