The Powell Pioneers baseball season concluded last week with losses in doubleheaders against Green River and Cody.

“As a coach, you just want guys that want to compete and I’m extremely proud of these young men for doing just that all season long,” said Pioneers manager George Laughlin.

“The amount of growth these young men have shown is truly incredible,” Laughlin added. “Our record isn’t where we wanted it to be, but these guys came out and battled every day — every practice and every game.”

The Pioneers finished the season with a 3-38 record.

“Our pitching late in the season kept us in ballgames and put us in positions to win,” Laughlin said. “There were a handful of one-run games that very easily could have gone our way with one hit or one play in the field.”

Pitching leaders for the team included Colin Queen with 41 innings with 40 strikeouts and a 3.32 earned run average, Tyler Feller with 47.2 innings, 28 strikeouts and a 5.73 ERA, Nate Brown with 25.2 innings, 32 strikeouts and a 7.46 ERA and Ryley Myer with 22.2 innings, 14 K’s and a 9.23 ERA.

“At the plate, we felt more confident towards the end of the year,” Laughlin added. “Our approach to each at-bat improved over the course of the season and we were doing a much better job of putting the ball into play.”

Queen led the Pioneers with a .472 batting average, followed by Feller hitting .352, Cameron Wentz at .286 and Luke Washington at .274.

For RBIs, Feller led the team with 20, followed by 13 from Reece Hackenberg and 11 apiece from Queen and Nate Brown.

Queen led the team with 21 runs, followed by 18 from Jesse Brown, 14 from Hackenberg and 12 from Feller.

“Defensively, we definitely played our best baseball over the last month or so of the season,” Laughlin said. “Our outfielders were reading the ball really well and making a ton of plays out there. Our infield was solid as well, fielding well and making strong throws. The number of errors we made continued to go down. Just all around better baseball.”

Green River

In the first game against Green River on Tuesday, July 11, Powell lost 9-3.

“Things were tight until the bottom of the third, when Green River opened up and scored six runs,” Laughlin said.

Powell kept in the game, scoring two in the fourth and one in the fifth to get back to 6-3, but the Knights pulled away to seal the 9-3 victory.

Washington went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Cameron Schmidt went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.

Tyler Feller pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 11 hits and four walks while striking out three. Ryley Meyer got the final out.

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Pioneers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning after Washington singled and Cameron Wentz, Meyer and Reece Hackenberg each drew walks. The Powell squad went up 2-0 in the fourth when Hackenberg, Colin Queen, Jesse Brown and Tyler Feller all singled with two outs.

After Green River got a run in the fifth, Powell answered in the sixth: Jaxson Carter reached on a walk, was advanced to second on a fielder’s choice from Queen, took third on a passed ball and crossed the plate on another passed ball.

Powell led 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, before a Green River single, followed by a triple, brought the Knights back within a run.

A hard-hit ground ball then scored the Knights’ runner from third and tied the game at 3 apiece.

However, Schmidt threw out a batter on a would-be bunt attempt and Queen struck out the next one to end the Green River rally and keep it a 3-3 tie heading into the seventh.

Powell went down in order in the top of the seventh before Green River loaded the bases and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly to left, 4-3.

Washington again went 2-for-4 with a run; Feller and Hackenberg each added RBIs.

Queen pitched six innings, allowing eight hits, four walks and four runs while striking out nine.

Nate Brown came in with the  bases loaded in the seventh and induced a fly out, but it was deep enough for Green River to score the winning run.

Cody

On Friday, the Pioneers ended their season with 10-0 and 15-2 losses in Cody, both games concluded in five innings.

In game one, Cody scored five runs in the second, four in the fourth and a decisive 10th run in the fifth.

In game two, the Cats scored all of their 15 runs in the second inning; the Pioneers scored their two runs in the top of the fifth.

Cody finished the regular season as the No. 1 seed in the A West Conference with a 13-1 conference record and 41-16 overall record.

As for the future of the Pioneers, “I’m really looking forward to watching these athletes grow and to continue working with them for the next few years,” Laughlin said. “We have some off-season stuff planned and will continue to work all year.”