Opening weekend saw the Powell Pioneers on the road, splitting with the ‘AA’ Sheridan Troopers on Friday night, dropping the first game on a walk-off bunt 3-2 before delivering a dominant 11-1 performance in the second game.

SHERIDAN 3, POWELL 2

Diving straight into the season against the Troopers (1-1) the Pioneers (1-1) were looking for an early test on the road against the ‘AA’ opponents.

Powell got on the board first after Brock Johnson led off with a walk and stole second before Cade Queen drove him in on a double to make it 1-0.

Queen then scored from second after an error on Dalton Worstell’s at bat to make it 2-0 after the first.

Johnson held the Troopers scoreless on the mound over the first three innings, and Powell maintained that 2-0 lead until the bottom of the fifth.

“We didn’t swing it as well as I thought we would,” manager Jason Borders said. “I thought maybe we’d hit better but we ran into a kid that carved us up in the middle innings. He shut us down for a few innings and we could never get our momentum back in that first one.”

A double and an error put two on for Sheridan before the first out of the inning, and a passed ball put the runners on second and third.

A single scored one, but a relay from left fielder Cole Fauskee to Johnson at third all the way home to Jhett Schwahn got out a second run and the Pioneers held on to a 2-1 lead.

The Sheridan runner later stole second, before an error brought him home to tie the game at 2-2 after the fifth.

Powell had two runners on with two outs in the top of the seventh but couldn’t find a run, giving Sheridan a chance to walk off in the bottom half.

A walk led off the inning, before a bunt led to a major error that allowed the runner to score from first and win the game 3-2.

“We didn’t play the bunt well,” Borders said. “We haven’t had time outdoors to go over everything as much as I’d like. It’s spring in Wyoming — it’s hard to get a lot of the stuff you want accomplished.”

Powell led with four hits compared to two for Sheridan, but three errors proved to be the difference against two for the Troopers.

Johnson and Worstell combined for eight strikeouts.

POWELL 11, SHERIDAN 1

In the second half of the doubleheader the Pioneers once again jumped out to an early lead, as Johnson was hit by a pitch and stole third to lead off.

Schwahn was also hit by a pitch before Queen hit a single to bring in Johnson and make it 1-0.

Trey Stenerson walked to load the bases, and Worstell grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Schwahn and make it 2-0.

Sheridan answered with one in the bottom half of the inning to make it 2-1, which held until a Pioneer offensive explosion in the third.

Stenerson led off with a triple and scored on an error before Worstell was walked to get on base.

Worstell advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on a hit by Fauskee, who was thrown out trying to turn a double into a triple.

Jacob Gibson singled, before Trevion Solberg and Ethan Welch walked to load the bases.

“We had some guys step up. I felt like those guys filled a void for us we thought we might have had,” Borders said. “I was happy with the bottom of our order.”

Johnson walked to score one, but Schwahn hit into a fielder’s choice that saw Solberg out advancing home but kept the bases loaded with two outs.

Queen walked to score another and make it 6-1.

Johnson scored on a wild pitch, before Stenerson hit a single that brought in a pair and extended the lead to 9-1.

Powell got the final margin in the top of the fifth, with Johnson leading off with a single.

Schwahn was hit by a pitch, before both runners advanced on a passed ball.

Both runners advanced again on a wild pitch, scoring Johnson and advancing Schwahn to third, before Schwahn eventually scored on a separate passed ball to make it 11-1.

“For the first time out we played well,” Borders said. “Our pitchers threw the ball really well … We gave up four hits the whole night to a ‘AA’ team, I’ll take that.”

Powell once again held Sheridan to two hits but had nine in the second contest, while committing more errors once again 3-1.

The difference between the teams was Powell was walked 10 times, while pitchers Queen and Aiden Greenwald only walked one batter between them for the Pioneers.

HOME OPENER SUNDAY

Powell will stay at home this week, hosting its home opener on Sunday with a doubleheader against the Lewistown Redbirds.

First pitches are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. as Powell will look to carry momentum after the second victory over Sheridan.

“I don’t know a lot about them [Lewistown],” Borders said. “If we just go out and play like we’re capable of playing it should be a pretty good baseball game.”