During a quick pit stop in Riverton on Tuesday night the Powell Pioneers swept the Riverton Raiders in an ‘A’ Northwest doubleheader, cruising in the first contest 10-1 before staging a comeback in the second contest to win 16-13.

POWELL 10, RIVERTON 1

Making the trip to Riverton on Tuesday, the Pioneers (33-14 overall, 5-3 ‘A’ Northwest) needed a pair of wins against the Raiders (21-18-1 overall, 0-8 ‘A’ Northwest) to stay in the hunt for the district No. 1 seed.

Powell got things started early, when Brock Johnson led off with a double, and advanced to third on a ground out.

Trey Stenerson joined him after a two out walk, which helped set up the opportunity for Johnson to score.

Stenerson stole second, allowing Johnson to steal home and make it 1-0.

Riverton got two singles in the bottom of the first, but those were the only hits for the Raiders until the fourth inning.

Powell continued its early scoring in the second, when Cole Fauskee led off with a double, and advanced to third on a ground out.

Once again a walk helped lead to a run, when Jacob Gibson walked with two outs.

Gibson stole second, allowing Fauskee to steal home and make it 2-0.

In the third, Cade Queen hit a one out triple, and then scored on a Stenerson sac fly to make it 3-0.

Queen continued to dominate on the mound before the Pioneers broke the game open in the fifth.

Three straight singles by Jordan Loera, Queen and Stenerson loaded the bases, and a Jhett Schwahn single scored two and made it 5-0.

Another single by Fauskee scored one, and Dalton Worstell singled to reload the bases with one out.

Gibson grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring a run, but Worstell was out advancing to second.

Gibson advanced to second and third during Johnson’s at bat, which also allowed Fauskee to score before Johnson drove in Gibson to make it 9-0 after the fifth.

“We’ve talked about scoring in those middle innings and we’re starting to do that,” manager Jason Borders said. “We don’t have those lulls in the third, fourth and fifth like we’ve had.”

Queen doubled to lead off the sixth, advancing to third on a ground out before Fauskee singled to score him and make it 10-0.

Three singles in the bottom of the sixth scored the lone run of the game for the Raiders as Powell earned a 10-1 victory.

Queen gave up three hits in five innings and recorded 11 strikeouts, Worstell gave up three hits and one earned along with three strikeouts in two innings of relief work.

“He (Queen) went out and threw really well,” Borders said.

Powell did not walk a batter in the contest.

Fauskee went 3-4 with two RBIs to lead the Pioneers, Schwahn recorded two RBIs while Johnson, Stenerson and Gibson each had an RBI.

“It’s working out really well having Jhett in the five hole,” Borders said. “It makes us deeper where we can get that lineup rolled over faster and easier. Fauskee had a big game in the six hole so that’s even better.”

POWELL 16, RIVERTON 13

In the second contest the Pioneers once again got off to a quick start, but a disastrous second inning nearly spoiled the evening.

Johnson, Loera and Queen were all hit by pitches to start, before Stenerson hit a single to score a run and make it 1-0.

Another single by Schwahn scored two, before a single by Fauskee scored another and made it 4-0.

Both runners advanced on steals, with Schwahn then scoring on a sac fly to make it 5-0 after the first.

In the second, Johnson led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on an error during the steal attempt to get in scoring position.

He scored on a ground out by Queen to make it 6-0.

Disaster struck in the bottom of the second, when two runners got on via singles, before a three-run home run started the rally for Riverton.

A walk and a hit batter put two more on, and a single scored another run to make it 6-4.

Switching from Aiden Greenwald to Schwahn on the mound couldn’t halt the run, as another three-run home run made it 7-6 in favor of the Raiders.

“It was similar to that game here, the wind picked up and was just blowing out as they stepped up,” Borders said. “Aiden struggled a little bit and left some balls up and they hit it. We tried to change things up with Jhett and he got hit hard too.”

One more home run followed, making it 8-6 as Riverton continued rallying with no outs.

A double and walk put two more on, and a single scored one to make it 9-6.

Powell got one out, but a passed ball scored a run before a ground out scored another and Riverton led 11-6.

The Raiders loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third, but Worstell pitching in relief prevented further damage, allowing Powell to get back in the contest starting in the fourth.

Loera walked with one out, advanced on a balk and then scored on a single by Queen to make it 11-7.

Stenerson singled, and Schwahn followed with another single to score Queen and make it 11-8.

Greenwald was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth, and Johnson joined him with a one out single.

Both runners scored when Queen hit a double, as Powell again cut the lead down to 11-10.

Schwahn was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth, and Greenwald was once again hit by a pitch to join him.

Worstell was walked to load the bases with two outs, and a passed ball scored Schwahn to tie the game at 11.

Johnson stepped up to the plate and hammered a three-run home run to left field, giving Powell the lead once again at 14-11.

Powell added insurance in the top of the seventh, when Queen led off with a double.

Schwahn was hit by a pitch and Fauskee walked to load the bases with one out.

Greenwald singled with two outs to score one, and Worstell singled to score another to make it 16-11.

Riverton got two runs back in the bottom of the seventh, but Powell held off the hosts for a 16-13 win.

Worstell got the win on the mound, giving up one hit over 3-2/3 inning while not giving up any runs.

“Dalton was huge all night,” Borders said. “He came in and calmed everything down and gave us a chance to come back and win that.”

Queen went 3-4 with four RBIs to lead the Pioneers, Johnson was 3-5 with three RBIs, Schwahn was 2-3 with three RBIs, Greenwald had two RBIs, Stenerson, Fauskee and Worstell each had an RBI.

CHEYENNE TOURNAMENT

Powell now heads to Cheyenne to take part in what is likely to be one of the more difficult tournaments of the season, the Mountain West World Series starting Thursday.

Powell kicks things off against the ‘AA’ Cheyenne Hawks (25-16) at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

That will be followed by a game against the other ‘AA’ Cheyenne team in the defending state champion Sixers (48-12) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Heading into Saturday the Pioneers will have a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m., taking on Lightning Baseball (7-13) out of Parker, Colorado. Powell will then take on the Rocky Mountain Oysters Bullock (4-4) out of Grand Junction, Colorado, at 4 p.m.

“I just want to go compete and have a good showing since it’s our last tournament besides districts and state,” Borders said.

Powell will then have a game on Sunday dependent on seeding.