Apr. 11—After failing to cash in with runners in scoring position to end Game 1, Mitchell High School’s Jake Helleloid made sure it would not be a problem in the second game.
The Kernels were able to rebound from a 5-4 loss in the first game of a doubleheader against Pierre Saturday at Cadwell Park with a 6-0 win behind Helleloid’s three-hit shutout in Game 2.
Despite allowing three hits, Mitchell struggled to consistently find the strike zone in the first game by surrendering eight walks. Meanwhile, Helleloid threw strikes on 63.4% of his pitches and needed only 71 pitches in six innings of work.
“Easily fixable things that we’re going to take care of as the year goes on to win that first game, but Jake was lights out,” MHS head coach Luke Norden said. “For his first time out, he went out there with a lot of confidence. He got us out of innings very quickly. He got to two outs and he attacked the zone to get the third out.”
Helleloid knew he was in for a strong outing after leaving the bullpen prior to the game and it was evident as his fastball and curveball were on-point throughout the game, fanning three and walking one.
Offensively, Mitchell (3-1) up a pair of runs in the first, with an RBI double by Jonah Schmidt and Helleloid aided his own cause with an RBI single during the ensuing at-bat. Parker Bollinger added a two-run double and Schmidt had a sacrifice as the Kernels tacked on four in the fourth inning.
“I just went in and there and wanted to throw strikes every single time,” Helleloid said. “From my bullpen (session), I knew fastball and curveball were going to work. Some days you don’t feel it, some days you do and I felt my wrist flicking extra good.”
In Game 1, Mitchell put up three runs in the first inning, but went scoreless until Schmidt doubled in a run in the bottom of the seventh. Trailing by one, the Kernels had runners at second and third with one out, but Pierre (5-1) pitcher Lincoln Kienholz rang up a pair of strikeouts in relief.
Meanwhile, the Governors took the lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by A Booth with two outs.
“We just have to have the focus that half inning to put up a zero,” Norden said. “We’re up 3-0 and the next half-inning we give up a two-spot. … You just have to build on good at-bats in those situations.”
Schmidt totaled three hits and three RBIs in two games, while Carson Fahey drove in a pair of runs in the first game. Bollinger had three hits and a pair of RBIs.
Mitchell travels to Sioux Falls O’Gorman at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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