Jayden Helmick throws against Williamstown

Tyler made the trip to Williamstown on Thursday, May 12, for a noon sectional baseball game and a chance to stay unbeaten in sectional play. However the home team Yellow Jackets got off to a fast start and never looked back as they handed the 21-8 Knights a 9-2 loss, sending them into the losers bracket against the winner of St. Marys and Ritchie County.

The game was moved to noon because of Tyler Consolidation’s graduation on Thursday night. The Knights had Jayden Helmick on the mound for another chance to take down the YellowJackets after defeating them 2-0 in the LKC Championship game a few days earlier. However after setting the Silver Knights down in order the home team jumped on Helmick in the first inning getting six hits and five runs before Tyler coach Rob Jones pulled Helmick with two out and brought in Carson Gorby who gave up two hits and a pair of runs before the inning ended on a fly out.

Tyler went down in order again in the second, but they shut Williamstown down in the second as well with just one hit. In the third Silver Knight Wes Henderson reached base on an infield error, but the Yellow Jackets got the next three batters in order. Williamstown added a run in the bottom half of the third as they added three hits and scored a run on an RBI double by Coleman to bring in Barkley.

The Silver Knights big inning came in the fourth when back to back singles by Hayden Brown and Ty Walton put runners on first and second. Alex Chaplin a Paden City transfer from last season drilled a double to bring in both runners for a pair of RBI.

Neither team scored again until Williamstown added a run in the 6th when Lee Molessa singled. On a pick off try the ball went wild and Molessa stole second and headed for third, the throw to third was off line and Molessa went home on a double throwing error, to end the scoring for the game. Williamstown ended with 16 hits to the Silver Knights three. Tyler committed six errors and Williamstown had one.

Helmick suffered the loss for the Knights, while Barkley picked up the win for Williamstown as they improved to 23-3 on the season.

Silver Knights get 11-7 comeback win over Ritchie County

Ritchie County traveled to Tyler Consolidated on Friday, May 13, for a sectional elimination baseball game, and took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Silver Knights got one batter to the plate for an out in the bottom half of the inning, but the umpire put the game on hold for 30 minutes due to a lightning flash. Minutes later another flash set the game back even further and eventually the contest was postponed until Saturday at 1 p.m.

Play resumed in the bottom of the first with one out an the Silver Knights at bat. They were unable to get anything going and the visiting Rebels came to bat in the second, but were shut out. The Knights again went down in order and after two the score remained 2-0 Rebels. Ritchie put another run on the board in the top of the third for a 3-0 lead, while shutting the home team out in the bottom of the inning.

In the top of the fourth the visitors capitalized on three Silver Knight errors and three hits to tack on four more runs and lead 7-0 at the end of the fourth. The visitors loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with one out, and were looking like they might close things out early, but Tyler got the next two batters to keep it 7-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

That’s when things got interesting, the Silver Knights cashed in on four hits in the inning and a pair of errors to put seven runs on the board and tie the game heading into the top of the sixth. The Knights never allowed another run and plated four more of their own in the bottom of the sixth to go up 11-7 and get the come from behind win.

Wes Henderson came up with a big hit in the bottom of the fifth as he drilled a bases loaded double with two outs to bring in three runs and tie the game 7-7. Also coming up big was Ty Walton scoring two runs and knocking in a pair in the fifth on a single to the left side. Henderson added another RBI in the sixth.

Zade Billings scored two runs and added a hit and an RBI, while Alex Caplin also scored twice and added a hit and an RBI. Hayden Brown added a hit, an RBI and scored a run for the Knights. Jayden Helmick, Mason Nichols, Owen Westbrook and Carson Gorby all scored for Tyler.

The Silver Knights only had five hits in the contest and had four errors, while the Rebels had nine hits and three errors.

Helmick picked up the win going 5.2 innings before Walton came on in relief with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Walton set down the next two batters to get the save and move Tyler to 22-8 on the season. The Knights will again head to Williamstown for another showdown with the number one Yellow Jackets.