A perfect evening of baseball wasn’t wasted by the Powell Pioneers Tuesday at Ed Lynn Memorial Field. But it took a second game turn-around to earn the Pioneers a split of the twin bill with the visiting Riverton Raiders.

Riverton made the most of the home team’s struggles on the mound in the first game to ease to a 16-2 win in five innings.  The Pioneers gathered themselves in the nightcap to rally for a 12-9 decision that boosts their record to 2-1 in the young season.

The opener was draining for Pioneer coach Joe Cates.

“It was a long night for us,” admitted Cates, after watching his pitchers walk 14 batters and hit four others in the 16-2 loss.

The two teams were knotted 1-1 after the first inning. Kobe Ostermiller and Colin Queen had singles in the first to produce the Pioneer run.

Riverton pulled away with two in the second and five in the third and sealed things with a decisive eight-run fourth.

Landon Sessions started on the mound for Powell and worked into the third inning. Kolt Flores, Keaton Rowton and Cade Queen finished the pitching duties.

“Landon [Sessions] threw well enough to keep us in the game, but he was trying to catch the corners and was barely missing off the plate,” Cates said. “It’s still early in the season, and we wanted to get some of these guys in there to see where we’re at.”

It didn’t start particularly well for the Pioneers in the second game, either. Powell trailed 5-0 after two innings before mounting a comeback.

Trey Stenerson singled to open the bottom the third, and Colin Queen — who had two hits in the opener — followed with a double. Canyon Gonzales was hit by a pitch, then Sessions delivered a single.  After the next two batters walked, Brock Johnson doubled to drive in two more runs, and the score was knotted at 5-5.

The Pioneers grabbed the lead with a two-out, five-run burst in the fourth. Runners reached on a hit batter and an error, and Ryan Cordes put Powell ahead for the first time with an RBI single. Following a walk, Rowton and Johnson had RBI singles for the Pioneers to cap the rally, and Powell led 10-5.

Starting pitcher Cameron Wentz left in the first inning with an elbow injury, and Colin Queen came on to pick up the win. He pitched through the fifth and left with a 10-7 lead.

“Colin pitched great,” Cates said. “He threw strikes with a variety of pitches and jammed a number of hitters.”

Johnson pitched the sixth and seventh “and was phenomenal as well,” Cates said.

Powell’s Legion C team was in Lovell for a Tuesday doubleheader and dropped both ends of the afternoon-evening split, 13-2 and 11-10.

Powell will host a three-day tournament of Legion C baseball Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Pioneers will field two C teams for tournament action, which features a total of 30 games  in the three days.

Line scores: 

Riverton: 2 3 6 5 0 — R: 16 – H: 10 – E: 0

Powell: 1 0 1 0 0 — R: 2 – H: 5 – E: 1

Riverton: 4 1 0 0 2 0  2 — R: 9 – H: 4 – E: 5

Powell: 0 0 5 5 0 2 x — R: 12 – H: 9 – E: 5