Wheels: Helvey, Fort Mill baseball drops Lewisville

The Fort Mill Yellow Jackets edged the Lewisville Lions 3-1 in the opening game of the Wheels Invitational baseball tournament at South Pointe.

Looking at both pitchers, it seemed the game was set up to be a pitcher’s duel.

Lewisville’s Evan Sisk got the start for the Lion, while Clay Helvey got the call for Fort Mill. Both Sisk and Helvey will be teammates next season at the College of Charleston.

Sisk went deep in the game and pitched well, but didn’t get run support he needed for the win. Twice Lewisville left the bases loaded to end an inning. Sisk went six innings and allowed three runs on three hits, while striking out 10 and walking four.

“Evan pitched great,” said Lewisville coach Billy Keels. “He pitched a heck of a game. We left 11 on base. We needed to get the big hit at crunch time.”

In the second inning, Helvey gave up the first hit of the game on a hard bouncer to Mason Jordan at first base. The ball took a funny hop and the throw from Jordan to Helvey who was trying to cover first wasn’t in time to get a speedy Drew Colvin.

Sisk was effective early on striking out four of the first seven Fort Mill batters he faced. Helvey was on cruise control for awhile as well striking out the first two batters in the third inning, before hitting Thomas Brannen and then allowing a single to Trey Keels.

Sisk then reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases for Lewisville. The Lions’ Cody Montgomery singled in Brannen to give Lewisville the first run of the game. Helvey bounced back to get out of the inning with a strikeout while allowing just the one run.

Fort Mill started using small ball in the bottom of the inning to get the momentum going its way. A bobble by Sisk allowed Braxton Bishop to get on and then Preston Reddick reached by beating out a bunt.

Another sacrifice bunt pushed runners over for Fort Mill and then a passed ball allowed the Jackets to get on the board. Helvey gave Fort Mill the lead on a sacrifice fly after a walk to Joey Tepper. Tepper scored on a double by Jordan to extend the Jackets lead.

“We struggled last week to score runs,” said Fort Mill coach Brad Mercer. “But three was enough. Our pitching kept us in it. When we get a chance to score, we have got too.”

Helvey walked Colvin to lead off the fourth inning and came back to strike out two before hitting two batters. He got out of a bases loaded jam with the help of his defense and didn’t allow a run in the inning.

For the Jackets, Clay King replaced Helvey to start the fifth inning on the mound. Helvey allowed three hits and a run, while striking out seven and walking two in four innings of work.

Sisk seemed to get better as the game went on as he faced the minimum in the fourth and allowed just a walk in the fifth as Fort Mill struggled to get base runners.

Lewisville threatened in the sixth inning as back-to-back errors by Fort Mill put runners on both first and second base with two outs. However, King and the Jackets would again get out of the inning without allowing a run.

Fort Mill’s Bryar Moore would come in the seventh inning to get the save for the Jackets.

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Wheels: Helvey, Fort Mill baseball drops Lewisville."