The Powell Pioneers are the two-time defending state champions in ‘A’ baseball, but a mostly new team is ready to make its mark heading into the state tournament in Sheridan starting Thursday and concluding Monday.

“I don’t think there’s any pressure being back-to-back state champs. They just want to go out there and make their own mark,” manager Jason Borders said. “Write their own story.”

Powell heads in as the No. 2 seed out of the west, having finished the regular season with a 27-28 record and a 7-3 record in the ‘A’ West.

The Pioneers’ first opponent will be the Torrington Tigers at 10 a.m. on Thursday, who finished with a 26-22 regular season record, going 11-5 in the ‘A’ East.

Powell received a bye into the state tournament and has not played since a split against the Billings Blue Jays on July 12, while Torrington completed a sweep of Gillette in its play-in series last Thursday 3-2 and 12-2.

Powell and Torrington met in early July in Douglas, where the Pioneers walked away with a 14-4 win in a wood bat tournament.

Unfortunately for the Pioneers, they didn’t see the top pitcher for the Tigers, who Borders expects to see Thursday, making for a more difficult matchup.

“We’re gonna have to have good approaches. Work good counts and get him out early,” Borders said. “The more pitches we can see, the shorter time he’ll play. We’ll be aggressive on the fastball, but that’s what we preach anyways. The pressure is on them, that’s how I look at it.”

In the past two state tournaments the Pioneers have had strong contributions throughout the lineup, and the message has remained the same this time around.

“It’s gotta be one-through-nine,” Borders said. “We’ve got to have big hits, we have got to have those guys (down the lineup) contribute somehow.”

Powell heads in with several players who were on the roster for last year’s state championship team as well as three from both state title teams, including Cole Fauskee, Jordan Loera and Trevion Solberg, while Brenton Henke and Ben Ostermiller were rostered with last year’s team.

Borders said that experience mixed with the hunger of the other Pioneers will serve them well, as the team does not feel much pressure heading into the tournament with a wide open field this year compared to years’ past.

“I don’t think the boys feel that pressure,” Borders said. “If we could be three time state champs that would be pretty cool … That’s definitely their goal. It’s wide open. We told them if they want it bad enough they can go get it. There’s nobody overpowering like we’ve had in the past. Right now everybody has one or two guys (pitchers).”

If Powell wins its first game, it will move on to face the winner of a contest between the No. 1 seed out of the east Casper Drillers (34-13) and the No. 4 seed out of the west Riverton Raiders (18-27), who play at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Heading into the state tournament, Borders knows there are nerves that show up this time of year and he is hopeful the Pioneers will play solid in all phases of the game to continue their journey in the tournament.

“We just have to go have good at bats, play defense and pitch well,” Borders said.

If the Pioneers lose, they will take on the loser of the Casper-Riverton game at 10 a.m. on Friday.

“We just have to hang around and get to day four. We can stumble. We just can’t panic if we do,” Borders said. “We’ve been there, done that, we know exactly how the state tournament works.”

STATE TOURNAMENT BRACKET

(All games at Ernie Rotellini Field at Thorne Rider Stadium in Sheridan)

THURSDAY

Game 1: 10 a.m. No. 2W Powell vs. No. 3E Torrington

Game 2: 1 p.m. No. 2E Wheatland vs. No. 3W Lovell

Game 3: 4 p.m. No. 1E Casper vs. No. 4W Riverton

Game 4: 7 p.m. No. 1W Cody vs. No. 4E Sheridan

FRIDAY

Game 5: 10 a.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3

Game 6: 1 p.m. Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 7: 4 p.m. Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3

Game 8: 7 p.m. Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4

SATURDAY

Game 9: 1 p.m. Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7

Game 10: 4 p.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8

Game 11: 7 p.m. Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8

SUNDAY

(Pairings for these games will not match up teams if they have played against each other unless absolutely necessary)

Game 12: 1 p.m. Winner Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11

Game 13: 4 p.m. WInner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11

MONDAY

Game 14: 11 a.m. Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 13 (Championship game)

Game 15: 1:30 p.m. Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14 (If first loss for loser of Game 14)