Texas knocked Utah champion Helper out of the western region American Legion baseball tournament Friday by earning an 8-1 victory in a losers' bracket game in Surprise, Arizona.
Helper, which won back-to-back Utah titles for the first time since 1941, gave up two runs in the first inning but stayed within striking distance until the bottom of the seventh.
Texas rallied for two runs in that inning and added four more in the eighth to send the Utah champions back to Carbon County after two days of play.
Tom Wharton