NSU Sports
Don Vieth, Director of Athletics Communications
TAHLEQUAH – Homecoming will come early for one Northeastern State alumni with Ryan Helsley being called up to the Springfield Cardinals and is slated to start Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. against the Tulsa Drillers.
The local Tahlequah-Sequoyah product pitched lights out in the Florida State League where he went 8-2 with a 2.69 ERA in 17 games played. Helsley was even more impressive in his last ten appearances for the Palm Beach Cardinals (Class A Advanced) where he was 5-0 on the bump with 60 strikeouts and a 1.74 ERA.
Helsley is the first NSU alumni who was selected in the Major League Draft to advance to a double-A affiliate; he was a 2015 pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth round.
“I am just so happy for Ryan,” said NSU head coach Jake Hendrick. “It is great to watch him have the success he is having.”
Helsley pitched for the RiverHawks from 2014-15 where he made 21 starts and complied a 14-8 record. In 2015, he was fifth in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (13.4), and led the MIAA with 95 punch-outs.