A difficult Sunday in Billings brought the Powell Pioneers win streak to an end at five, with the Pioneers falling 13-9 and 4-3 to the Billings Cardinals on the road.

BILLINGS 13, POWELL 9

Hoping to keep their winning streak alive to end April, the Pioneers (5-3) made the trip to Billings once again on Sunday, this time to take on the Cardinals (6-0).

Powell got off to a strong start, with Brock Johnson and Jhett Schwahn being walked to get on base.

The two advanced on a steal, before Dalton Worstell hit a two-out single to bring in both and make it 2-0 in the first.

The Cardinals got a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, hitting a solo home run to cut the lead down to 2-1.

“They came out in that first inning and crushed the baseball,” manager Jason Borders said.

Powell expanded on its lead in the top of the second, with Aiden Greenwald and Ethan Welch getting on through walks, and advancing on a wild pitch to get into scoring position.

Johnson hit a single to bring in both, making the score 4-1.

A difficult second inning for the Pioneers saw a series of walks, an error, a hit and a wild pitch helped the hosts storm back and gain the lead up 5-4.

“It seemed like every ball they hit was in a gap,” Borders said. “Brock struggled a little bit (on the mound), it’s going to happen.”

A triple along with an error in the bottom of the third extended the lead for the Cardinals, making it 6-4 heading into the fourth.

Johnson hit a two-out single, before Schwahn hit a triple to bring him in and make it 6-5.

In the bottom half of the inning, a single, a hit batter and a double helped bring in an additional run for the Cardinals, while a sac fly and a single helped bring in two more and made it 9-5 in favor of Billings after the fourth.

Neither team found any offense in the fifth inning and Powell continued to struggle into the top of the sixth before the Cardinals extended their lead in the bottom half of the sixth with a five-run inning to make it 13-5.

Seeking a comeback, Johnson walked to lead off the seventh and stole second before Schwahn hit a single to score one run and make it 13-6.

Singles by Cade Queen and Trey Stenerson followed to load the bases with no outs for the Pioneers.

A one-out double by Cole Fauskee scored a pair and made it 13-8, before a ground out scored another and made it 13-9.

Powell got one more base runner on before a fly out ended the game, and the Pioneers’ five-game winning streak.

Johnson, Schwahn, Worstell and Fauskee all finished with two RBIs, as the two teams finished with nine hits each, but the Pioneers committed four errors compared to none for the Cardinals.

BILLINGS 4, POWELL 3

In the second matchup the Pioneers attempted to get back on track, but fell behind early to the Cardinals.

A single and triple in the bottom of the first inning gave Billings the early 1-0 lead, which the Cardinals clung to until the third inning.

In the third, the Cardinals expanded their lead, as an error got things started before a single and a groundout helped score the first run before a two-out triple scored another and made it 3-0.

Powell finally got on the board in the top of the fifth, when Greenwald was walked and advanced on a sac bunt.

Johnson grounded out but advanced Greenwald to third before a Schwahn single scored him to make it 3-1.

Three straight singles by Queen, Stenerson and Worstell scored a pair and tied the contest 3-3.

Billings had an answer in the bottom of the fifth, scoring one after a single got a runner on, stealing all the way to third before a single drove him in to reclaim the lead 4-3.

Powell got one baserunner on via a walk in the top of the seventh, but couldn’t find its offense late in the loss.

“It was one of those days,” Borders said. “Nothing we did that day went right. It’s over and done with, we move on.”

Queen finished with eight strikeouts in six innings of work on the mound while only walking one and giving up two earned runs. Stenerson gave up one hit and struck out one in relief work.

Both teams tied with eight hits, while Powell had one error compared to one for Billings.

Worstell led Powell going 2-2 with two RBIs, Schwahn had the other RBI while going 2-4.

DOUBLE DOUBLEHEADER

After waiting several weeks and having a pair of games canceled, the Pioneers will finally have a weekend that features four games as opposed to two, starting with a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. against Gallatin Valley (4-0) in Three Forks, Montana.

Powell will then head back south, making a pit stop in Laurel (0-0) on Sunday with first pitches set for the same start time.

“This weekend will give us a better idea of what we will look like throughout the year,” Borders said. “We will be able to start figuring our pitching rotation out … We will play with it and find out how we will go through tournaments on weekends and then conference games during the week.”