After starting the season on the road the Powell Pioneers opened their home campaign with a 3-1 record, sweeping Lockwood 16-2 and 16-1 on Saturday before splitting with Riverton on Sunday with an 11-8 loss followed by a 10-0 win.

POWELL 16, LOCKWOOD 2

The Pioneers (3-3) opened up their home campaign by welcoming in the Razorbacks (1-2) for a doubleheader.

Powell got things started in the bottom of the first, with a leadoff walk to Ben Ostermiller.

He stole second but was caught stealing third, before Jordan Loera walked.

Loera stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball, before Cole Fauskee singled to bring him home and make it 1-0.

In the second inning, Dominik Bieber reached on a one-out walk and stole second.

Ostermiller brought him in on a two-out line drive that resulted in an error and made it 2-0.

Ostermiller stole second, before a single by Loera brought Ostermiller home to make it 3-0.

Continuing the trend, the Pioneers added several more runs in the third, starting with two singles by Fauskee and Abel Teten.

Trevion Solberg’s single brought in Fauskee, before Bieber walked and loaded the bases with one out.

Talon Nuss singled and scored a pair, and Powell led 6-0 after the third.

Lockwood got a pair back in the top of the fourth, courtesy of two singles and two errors to make it a 6-2 game.

Needing runs to put the game out of reach, Powell opened a high-scoring fourth inning with a single.

Fauskee reached second on a steal before a sac bunt by Teten advanced him to third.

A pop out kept Fauskee at third, before the Pioneers’ bats got hot with two outs.

Solberg singled to score Fauskee, and Bieber walked to put two runners on.

Nuss singled to score one, and Ostermiller singled to score another and make it 9-2.

Loera walked to load the bases, and Ryan Barrus doubled to score a pair and make it 11-2.

Fauskee doubled and scored two more, then stole third before  a Teten single brought him home.

Caden Diaz singled, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch before Solberg singled and scored both runners to make it 16-2 after the fourth.

The Pioneers didn’t allow the baserunner in the fifth and finished with the 16-2 win.

“It was a good game for us coming off Sheridan,” manager Jason Borders said. “We were able to do a lot of things in terms of hitting and running and stealing.”

Fauskee finished 4-4 with three RBIs, Solberg went 3-4 with four RBIs and Nuss went 2-3 with three RBIs to lead the Pioneers.

Booka Fazen went three innings, giving up only two hits with four strikeouts on the mound.

POWELL 16, LOCKWOOD 1

The Pioneers again got off to a good start in the second game, as Nuss reached after being hit by a pitch, Fauskee joined him after an error and Kolby Gates walked to load the bases with one out in the first.

Teten grounded out but two runs scored and Gates advanced to third.

Gates then scored on a wild pitch and Powell led 3-0 after the first.

Powell got its chance to add more in the second, starting with a single by Christian Love, who stole second before being brought in on a Brenton Henke single.

Henke advanced to second on the throw home, and stole third before Decker Engesser’s single scored him and made it 5-0.

Borders noted that the team has more speed than he initially thought, which is allowing them to play more like last year’s team with an aggressive mentality rounding the bases.

“This team can do the same thing as last year’s,” Borders said. “Once we figure out how to read pitchers better, then you’ll see that they’ll get better throughout the year.”

Nuss singled and Fauskee walked to load the bases with one out.

Gates singled and scored a run, before a pop out to reach two outs.

Rowan Diaz singled and scored a pair, and Powell led 8-0 after the second inning.

In the third, Ostermiller walked, Nuss singled and Fauskee walked to load the bases with one out, before Gates doubled to score three and make it 11-0 after the third.

In the fourth, Henke walked before stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch, before Ostermiller tripled with one out to make it 12-0.

Bieber doubled and scored Ostermiller to make it 13-0.

He advanced to third on a wild pitch before Fauskee walked to put runners on the corners.

Gates singled to score one, and Caden Diaz tripled to score two more and finish the scoring for Powell at 16.

The Razorbacks got one back after a single and an error to make the final score 16-1.

Gates finished 3-3 with five RBIs, while Caden and Rowan Diaz along with Teten each finished with two RBIs.

Nuss went four innings and gave up no hits with five strikeouts and Henke finished the final inning giving up one hit.

RIVERTON 11, POWELL 8

Continuing on with a homestand on Sunday, the Pioneers welcomed in the Raiders (1-1) in a nonconference matchup.

Two walks, two errors and a single helped the visitors get on the board in the first, scoring three and making it 3-0 after the top of the first.

Powell answered in the bottom of the first, as Ostermiller singled and Teten reached on an error to lead off.

Both runners advanced two bases on consecutive steals to bring in a run and put Teten on third.

A strikeout followed before Teten scored on another passed ball and made it 3-2 after the first inning.

In the second, Caden Diaz singled, eventually stealing second, third and home on separate sequences to make it a 3-3 game.

Henke and Nuss walked, and advanced on a passed ball, before advancing further and scoring a run on a separate passed ball.

Ostermiller walked to put runners on the corner, and Barrus walked to load the bases with two outs.

A wild pitch advanced the runners, before the inning ended on a strikeout and the Pioneers led 5-3 after the second.

Scoring stalled over the next two innings, before the Raiders scored one on a walk, single and double cut the lead down to 5-4.

A double, two singles and a fielder’s choice scored a pair for Riverton and gave the visitors a 6-5 lead after the top of the sixth.

Ostermiller hit into an error with one out and advanced to second on that same error, before Barrus brought him home on a single to tie the game 6-6 heading into the seventh inning.

An error and a double scored a run to lead off the seventh for Riverton, before a two run home run made it a 9-6 game.

Four walks and a pair of passed balls scored another pair of runs, and the Raiders led 11-6 heading to the bottom of the seventh.

A single, error and walk loaded the bases with no outs with Gates, Caden Diaz and Solberg on base.

Another Henke walk scored a run, before a pop out recorded the first out and Ostermiller’s pop out scored another run to make it 11-8 with two outs.

Powell was unable to find another run, and fell 11-8.

“I thought they (Riverton) could be one of the best teams in the state and we went out there and competed with them,” Borders said.

Ostermiller, Caden Diaz and Gates each went 2-4 at the plate.

Caden Diaz pitched three innings, giving up three hits and no earned runs with seven strikeouts.

POWELL 10, RIVERTON 0

In the second game the Pioneers got on the board first, as four straight walks to Ostermiller, Nuss, Barrus and Fauskee scored Ostermiller and made it 1-0.

Caden Diaz doubled and scored a pair, and Rowan Diaz was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.

A wild pitch scored Fauskee and Powell led 3-0 after the first inning.

Powell got on the board again in the third inning, when Fauskee and Gates walked to lead off, before a Caden Diaz triple scored both and made it 5-0.

Rowan Diaz singled to score Caden, and Engesser was hit by a pitch to put two on with no outs.

Rowan Diaz stole third, and Engesser eventually stole second to put two in scoring position.

Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, before Ostermiller walked and Powell kept two runners on the corners.

Nuss singled to score one more and made it 9-0 after the second.

The Pioneers found a way to end it in the fifth, when Ostermiller led off with a triple, and was eventually brought in on a Fauskee double to finish the game at 10-0.

Caden Diaz led at the plate going 3-3 with four RBIs while Fauskee added two RBIs going 1-2.

Ostermiller threw a one hit shutout while recording 11 strikeouts with only three walks.

After the weekend with four games in two days, Borders noted that this team has the depth to compete on the mound despite still missing one of their top options in Loera.

“I looked back and really we only threw five guys a lot last year,” Borders said. “We can go to maybe more guys than we did last year … We have a lot of guys that can throw.”

SMALL BREAK

The Pioneers will take the rest of this week off and next week to prepare for their next contests, as they will host the Razorbacks once again in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 26, before heading to Buffalo on Sunday, April 27.

“We’ve got some sore arms,” Borders said. “We’ve told them every time they get an opportunity to play they need to take advantage of it. There’s a lot of competition, they’re all fighting for positions and that’s made us better early in the year.”