The Powell Pioneers capped off a busy end to the season with five games over four days to secure another state tournament berth after a sweep of Evanston on Thursday. The Pioneers defeated Douglas 20-10 in a nine inning game Wednesday, won against Evanston 10-0 and 5-4 on Thursday before splitting with the Billings Blue Jays Saturday with a 9-5 win and a 15-4 loss.

POWELL 20, DOUGLAS 10

In a quick nine inning game on Wednesday, the Pioneers (27-28 overall, 7-3 ‘A’ West) took on the Cats (15-33 overall, 6-10 ‘A’ East) for the second time in a week.

Powell got on the board in the bottom of the first, as Abel Teten walked, stole second and then advanced to third on a fly ball after tagging up.

Caden Diaz singled, scoring Teten and making it 1-0.

Douglas answered with a hit batter and three walks to score a run and tie it 1-1.

In the bottom of the second, Ryan Barrus singled and Kolby Gates walked before Talon Nuss singled and scored Barrus to make it a 2-1 game.

Powell extended the lead in the bottom of the third, as Teten singled before Jordan Loera hit a home run to make it 4-1.

The Pioneers added more as Diaz walked and Trevion Solberg singled, with both runners advancing further on two separate passed balls to score Diaz and move Solberg to third.

Ben Ostermiller hit a sac fly, scoring Solberg and making it 6-1.

Douglas scored two through a pair of errors, a walk and a single to cut the lead to 6-3.

In the bottom of the fourth, Nuss singled and Decker Engesser walked, before a wild pitch advanced both runners.

Teten grounded out to score Nuss and advance Engesser, before Loera singled and scored Engesser to make it 8-3.

Diaz singled, and Solberg grounded out to advance the runners further.

A dropped third strike led to an error on the first baseman, allowing both Loera and Diaz to score and make it 10-3.

Powell again added to its lead in the bottom of the fifth, as Nuss and Engesser singled with one out.

Teten singled to score Nuss but Engesser was out advancing to third.

Loera tripled and scored Teten, before Diaz hit into an error and scored Loera to make it 13-3.

Solberg was hit by a pitch, before Ostermiller singled to score Diaz and make it 14-3.

Dakota Erickson singled, before Christian Love singled to score Solberg and make it a 15-3 contest after the fifth.

A hit batter and two singles loaded the bases for Douglas in the sixth, and an error followed by two singles scored five runs and made it a 15-8 contest.

Powell added to its lead in the sixth, as Teten singled with one out, and Diaz joined him after being hit by a pitch.

Solberg tripled and scored both, making it 17-8.

Douglas got two back, after a hit batter, two walks and a single scored a pair and made it 17-10.

Powell failed to score in the seventh inning, the only time in the contest, before finishing it in the eighth.

Walks to Cael Kysar and Loera coupled with a single by Teten loaded the bases with no outs.

Diaz walked, Solberg was hit by a pitch and Ostermiller singled to each score one and end the contest 20-10.

Six different Pioneers recorded multiple hits and five different Pioneers recorded multiple RBIs as Powell outhit Douglas 20-9.

“Having an easier game with Douglas was the highlight of the week,” manager Jason Borders said.

Dominik Bieber went four innings, giving up three hits, one earned run, five walks and three strikeouts.

Rowan Diaz threw four innings, giving up six hits, five earned, two walks and two strikeouts in relief.

POWELL 10, EVANSTON 0

Heading into their most important games of the week the Pioneers welcomed the Outlaws (22-23-2 overall, 5-5 ‘A’ West) with a pair of wins guaranteeing a spot at the state tournament.

After two scoreless innings from both teams and a scoreless third from Evanston, Powell got on the board in a flurry in the bottom of the third.

Nuss and Teten walked, before Loera’s bunt led to an error, advancing him all the way to second and scoring one to make it 1-0.

Caden Diaz singled and scored a pair and made it 3-0.

Fauskee walked and Solberg singled to load the bases.

Ostermiller walked and scored one to make it 4-0.

Nuss walked with two outs to score another, and Teten hit into an error to score a pair and make it 7-0.

Loera capped off the inning with a three run home run and made it a 10-0 contest.

“They walked us a ton that inning. We still didn’t really hit the ball that well,” Borders said.

Powell didn’t allow a baserunner in the fourth or fifth, ending the game via the 10 run rule.

Loera led at the plate going 2-2 with three RBIs, as Powell outhit Evanston 4-1. The Outlaws committed three errors while Powell committed none.

Ostermiller pitched all five innings, giving up one hit and striking out nine.

“Ben would have easily been in double digit strikeouts if we had gone seven,” Borders said. “He pretty much dictated whatever he wanted to. That was a big game for us, we needed to make sure we got the first one.”

POWELL 5, EVANSTON 4 (F/8)

The Outlaws got off to a quick start in the second game, as three singles and a double scored three runs and gave the visitors the early lead.

Evanston added another in the top of the fourth, as a single followed by strong baserunning advanced a runner to third, and a walk added another option for the visitors.

A wild pitch scored a run, and Evanston led 4-0.

It took until the bottom of the seventh for the Pioneers to get on the board, as Ostermiller led off with a solo home run, his first of the season.

Barrus walked and Bieber singled to join him.

A wild pitch advanced them further, before Teten singled and scored both to make it 4-3.

Loera tripled and scored Teten to tie the game with only one out.

“All we talked about before that inning was trying to get some runs and get that run differential in our favor,” Borders said. “That inning they just relaxed, Ben started it with that home run and we just rolled from there.”

Two intentional walks loaded the bases, and Evanston escaped the jam to force extra innings.

After a 1-2-3 top of the eighth, Barrus walked to start the bottom half for the Pioneers.

Nuss hit a single to center field, and an error on the play allowed Barrus to round all the way home and score to win the game 5-4.

Evanston outhit Powell 9-7 while each team committed an error.

Teten and Loera each went 2-4 in the contest.

Caden Diaz went five innings giving up seven hits, four earned runs, four walks and six strikeouts.

Loera went three innings in relief, giving up two hits, no runs or walks with one strikeout.

POWELL 9, BILLINGS 5

Ending the regular season at home against the Blue Jays (11-24) the Pioneers honored their seniors before the first pitch.

In the bottom of the first, Nuss singled and Loera walked, with Nuss advancing to third after tagging up and Loera eventually stole second.

Ostermiller singled to score both, before Rowan Diaz was hit by a pitch.

Love singled and scored one before Gates singled to score another and make it 4-0.

Powell added another in the bottom of the third, when Rowan Diaz and Love singled with one out, before Engesser singled to score one and make it 5-0.

Billings got one back in the fourth, scoring via an error, single and eventually a sac fly to make it 5-1.

In the fifth the Blue Jays got closer, scoring via three singles and a walk to get three in and make it a 5-4 game.

Powell extended its lead via walks to Rowan Diaz and Gates along with Barrus being hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.

Engesser hit into a fielder’s choice, before Nuss singled to score another and make it a 7-4 game.

In the bottom of the sixth, Solberg walked to lead off, advancing to second on a ground out before a passed ball coupled with an error scored him and made it 8-4.

Rowan Diaz was hit by a pitch, stealing second and advancing to third on a passed ball before Gates singled to score him and make it 9-4.

A double, hit batter followed by a tag up on a line out scored one in the seventh for Billings and made it 9-5.

“It was nice to get a win that first game with the seniors,” Borders said. “It was one of those days where we got everybody playing time.”

Powell outhit Billings 10-8 but committed more errors 5-3.

Nuss, Love and Gates all recorded two hits as Brenton Henke got the win going four innings, giving up four hits, no earned, two walks and three strikeouts.

Booka Fazen went three innings giving up four hits, two earned, three walks and five strikeouts.

BILLINGS 15, POWELL 4

Billings struck early and often in the second contest, scoring two in the first and third innings to take a 4-0 lead.

Powell got closer in the bottom of the third, as Kysar was hit by a pitch, Teten walked and Loera singled to load the bases with no outs.

A single by Fauskee scored Kysar and appeared to score Teten, but after an appeal that Teten failed to touch third, he was called out and Powell trailed 4-1.

In the fourth, Barrus singled and Nuss walked, with both runners advancing further on steals during Solberg’s at bat.

Solberg grounded out to score Barrus, before Teten singled and scored Nuss to make it 4-3.

Strong hitting late and Pioneer errors allowed for Billings to pull away, as the Blue Jays scored 11 runs in the final three innings compared to one for the Pioneers.

“It would’ve been nice to win the second one,” Borders said. “We were burned out by that second game after playing that schedule.”

Teten led Powell going 3-3 with two RBIs, as Powell was outhit 18-8 and committed more errors 4-1.

Gates went four innings, giving up eight hits, three earned, one walk and three strikeouts.

Engesser went three innings, giving up 10 hits, seven earned, no walks and three strikeouts.

POSTSEASON BREAK

Following the wins over Evanston the Pioneers locked up their postseason spot in Sheridan next week, looking for their third straight title in the ‘A’ ranks.

Powell will be the No. 2 seed out of the west, finishing behind Cody due to the Cubs having the advantage in the head-to-head tiebreaker as both teams finished on seven wins.

That means Powell will have plenty of rest with this week off before the state tournament begins on Thursday, July 24.

“I tried to do as much as I could schedule wise (to find games),” Borders said. “We will stay home and practice and work on some stuff we need to work on. Have some light practices to keep them fresh, work on some situational stuff and clean it up for this last little bit.”

Play-in series in the west will feature No. 3 Lovell (27-24 overall, 6-4 ‘A’ West) taking on Green River (8-33-1 overall, 0-10 ‘A’ West) and the No. 4 seed Evanston taking on the No. 5 seed Riverton (18-27 overall, 5-5 ‘A’ West).

Those will be best two of three series played this week with the winners of those series advancing to state.