Brown’s 1-hitter highlight of Powell sweep

The Powell Pioneers showed on Tuesday that they can play well behind good pitching, and play even better when the bats are there for support.

18-year-old pitcher Matt Brown started Powell’s doubleheader against Lovell with a one-hit, complete-game shutout before Carson Asher went the distance on the mound in game two as the Pioneers swept the Lovell Mustangs 2-0, 5-3 in Northwest Conference action at Ed Lynn Memorial Field.

Powell (2-2, 2-0) was in need of a quick turnaround after a pair of blowout losses to Laurel on May 9. The Pioneers then took a 16-day break, which included a cancellation of a doubleheader at Sheridan due to injuries and player obligations. But Powell seemed to be unaffected by the long layoff, earning praise from head coach Jason Borders.

“We just went back to work. Defense and pitching is going to be our strong suit this year,” Borders said. “I’m hoping our hitting will come around, but we really worked on defense and our pitchers got a lot of work on the mound the last week or so. We looked good.”

Powell 2, Lovell 0

Brown experienced some trouble in the first inning, loading the bases with three walks, but got out of it with a strikeout of Riley Hill, and it was smooth sailing from there.

Lovell didn’t record a hit until Trey Dickerson singled to first base with one out in the fifth. Brown made sure it went for naught as he struck out the next two batters to end the frame.

Brown (1-0), playing in his first game after a back injury kept him out of Powell’s first two games, went seven innings, giving up six walks while striking out nine Mustangs.

“He threw his [butt] off,” Borders said. “Bad conditions ... he fought through the weather, a little adversity on the mound with it being all nasty and he just worked out there.

“An 18-year-old steps up in a conference game, can’t ask for more right there.”

Rainy weather in the opening game left the field in rough condition, including the pitcher’s mound, which required maintenance throughout the game to keep it playable.

“The rain really did mess up that mound quite a bit. I couldn’t really stride out as much as I usually do. So I had to take a little speed off the ball and use my changeup and curveball more,” Brown said. “I just had to keep things down in the zone and induce some ground balls.”

It worked for Brown, as Lovell hit into 10 groundouts against a Powell defense that didn’t record an error.

“They did a good job. We had no errors, which shows a lot,” Brown said of the defense. “I struck out nine, but everything else was pretty much ground balls, and they did a great job of stopping everything.

“Zero errors for the third game of the season is huge.”

With a man on first with one out in the fourth, Brown picked off Dakota Bond before striking out Cole Wambeke to escape the inning.

The Powell offense broke through in the fourth against Wambeke, who started for Lovell. With one out, Teagan Cordes walked before Brown moved Cordes to third on a fielder’s choice. Tyler Feller then singled to second but Cordes stayed at third, setting the stage for Kaden Moore, who singled home Cordes for a 1-0 lead and ultimately the game-winning run.

Moore later added an insurance run on a double down the right-field line that scored Grady Sanders.

“Kaden is a kid that took a year off last year and didn’t come out. We talked him into coming out this year and helping us out,” Borders said. “He was a little behind at first, but he’s such a good athlete ... it’ll come. And the last couple games, it’s starting to come. He’s starting to feel better at the plate. We expect big things from him.”

Moore and Feller each had two hits for Powell. 

Powell 5, Lovell 3

The Pioneers turned on the offense in the backend of the twin bill, totaling 11 hits as Asher gave Powell seven more innings of strong work.

“Carson, he threw a heck of a game. Everything he threw was working,” Borders said of Asher's outting. “He hung a curveball that scored a couple of runs. But other than that, he threw a great game.”

Asher allowed three runs (none earned) with no walks and eight strikeouts. He limited the damage after the Powell defense kept Lovell in it with four errors. The Pioneer bats did their part to offset the shaky defense however, building a 4-0 lead before the fifth inning.

In the first, Cordes singled home Asher on a line drive for a 1-0 lead. The Pioneers then added three more in the fourth when Ezra Andreasen started the rally with a single that scored Brown. Ty Dearcorn scored on an error during the sequence, and Corey Heny followed with a single that plated Andreasen.

“The bats did come around,” Borders said. “[Lovell] threw one of their better pitchers (Calder Forcella) against us in that game and we came out and got on him right away and got him out of there.”

Lovell chipped away at the deficit with a pair of runs in the fifth, but another Heny RBI single pushed the Pioneer edge to 5-2 in the sixth.

Asher allowed an RBI single to Bond in the seventh before fanning Cade Dooley to end it.

Heny and Asher powered Powell with three hits each. Powell’s first three hitters went a combined 7 for 9 at the plate with three runs scored and three driven in. Borders said performances like that will mean more wins for Powell this summer.

“It just gives the whole team a rise. When we go three up, three down in the first, well now all of sudden we have to play defense and it kills momentum,” the coach said. “You get a little bit of a lead, you can loosen up a little bit. It was almost like everybody thought they could hit then.

“The top of the order knows they’ve got to carry us. They’ve got to swing it or we’re not going to have much success.”

Powell travels to Montana this weekend for doubleheaders against Miles City on Saturday (1 p.m. and 3 p.m.) and the Billings Halos on Sunday (1 p.m. and 3 p.m.).