Coming off a breakthrough win earlier this month, the Powell Pioneer baseball team dropped a series of games last week — including a couple by the thinnest of margins.

That included conference losses to Green River in a Tuesday, June 13 doubleheader and five losses in a four-day tournament in Lewistown, Montana, on June 15-18.

“Some of the losses are harder to take than others, but I know we are learning from each game,” said Pioneers manager George Laughlin.

Laughlin said his team fought hard against the Scobey Blues, host Lewistown Redbirds, Richland County Patriots, Billings Angels and Tri-County Cardinals in last weekend’s tournament.

“All of the Pioneers had success at the plate as every player collected a hit during the tournament,” Laughlin added.

Tyler Feller was locked in, going 10 for 18 with three doubles and two RBIs along with three walks during the tourney.

“[Feller] has been seeing the ball extremely well lately and his numbers are reflecting all of the work he has put in,” said Laughlin.

The manager added that, “Colin Queen was also very productive.”

Queen went 8-for-15 with three walks and two RBIs.

Reece Hackenberg, meanwhile, showed some clutch hitting with five RBIs on five hits over the weekend.

Over the course of the five games, every Pioneer saw time on the mound.

“It was great to get everyone some more experience pitching at this part of the season,” Laughlin said. “Confidence comes with experience and as confidence grows, our performance on the mound will continue to improve.”

Cameron Wentz, Ryley Meyer and Zane Cordes each threw five innings over the weekend.

Green River

On Tuesday, June 13, the Pioneers hosted Green River for a pair of games, losing 3-2 in extra innings and 16-2.

In the first game, the teams were scoreless until the fifth inning, when Green River took a 1-0 lead; the Knights went up 2-0 in the sixth.

However, Powell responded in the bottom half of the sixth to tie the game at 2. After a scoreless seventh, the teams went to an extra eighth inning. Green River pushed across a run in the top half and the Pioneers were unable to respond, losing 3-2.

In game two, Green River came out swinging — starting with a leadoff triple — and hit almost every pitch thrown, said Laughlin. The Knights scored five runs in the first en route to the 16-2 win.

Scobey Blues 13, Powell Pioneers 3

In the opener of the Lewistown tournament, Pioneer Nate Brown went three innings against the Scobey Blues, giving up four runs (two earned) on only three hits, while collecting five strikeouts.

Wentz took the mound in the fourth inning holding Scobey to one run in his two innings of work.

The Pioneers trailed 6-3 going into the seventh inning.

“We were feeling good about getting a quick three outs on defense and coming to the plate with a chance to win the ballgame,” Laughlin said. “Unfortunately some untimely errors led to a seven-run seventh for Scobey and that was the end of it for that game.”

Overall, six Pioneer errors led to nine unearned runs in the game.

“At the plate the Pioneers continued to battle,” Laughlin said, noting they rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to make it 5-3.

Overall, the Pioneers had nine hits against only four strikeouts.

Lewistown Redbirds 14, Powell Pioneers 2

Lewistown jumped on the Pioneers early with three runs in the first and five in the second for an 8-0 lead, and never looked back.

Feller and Queen each had two two hits and an RBI in the effort.

Queen went three innings on the mound, with Jaxson Carter pitching one.

Richland County Patriots 17, Powell Pioneers 5

On Saturday, Powell started off well against Sidney, Montana’s Richland County Patriots, plating two runs in the first.

However, Richland County scored eight runs in the second inning to take the lead for good.

In the game, Queen had three hits, while Feller and Hackenberg each notched two.

Feller started the game on the mound for the Pioneers going 2 1/3 innings allowing six runs, two earned on five hits with two punchouts. Meyer and Cordes came in as relief, allowing eight runs, two earned with a strikeout and three runs, two earned with a strikeout, respectively.

Billings Angels 25, Powell Pioneers 2

“Saturday afternoon was more of the same for Powell as they took on a familiar Billings Angels squad,” Laughlin said.

Billings pounced early, scoring five runs in the top of the first, and later broke out for a 16-run fourth inning.

“It was just one of those innings where if something bad could happen, it did. Billings hit the ball well, but we missed a couple of chances to get out of that inning with less damage,” Laughlin said. “The boys didn’t lose focus and didn’t quit, though, and that’s a positive we can take from a very difficult experience.”

Feller was again successful in the batter’s box going 2-3 with a double, single and a BB. Wentz started the game and went three innings.

Tri-County Cardinals 7, Powell Pioneers 6

Sunday was a tournament matchup featuring the Pioneers, the No. 4 seed in the “Red” division, pitted against the No. 4 seed in the “White” division, the Tri-County Cardinals of Conrad, Montana.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the top of the first, before Powell answered with a run of its own; Laughlin said it could have been a bigger half-inning for the Pioneers, but a squeeze play attempt turned into a double play when the bunt was popped up, caught and the runner thrown out at third.

“We were trying to be aggressive and make Tri-County make a play,” he said. “We didn’t execute very well and they did on that play.”

The Cardinals added two runs in each of the third and fourth innings, but Powell kept creeping back in, scoring runs in the fourth and fifth innings and two more in the sixth. Trailing just 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Nate Brown started things off with a single and moved to second base on a passed ball by the Cardinals.

Ryley Meyer then came up big with a double to left field, scoring Brown and bringing Powell within a run with a runner in scoring position.

Cameron Schmidt then “did his job,” advancing Meyer to third on a fielder’s choice, Laughlin said.

With two outs, Carter hit a deep fly ball to center field, but the Cardinals’ center fielder made the catch to end the rally.

Overall the Pioneers out-hit the Cardinals 13-9.

Feller was again productive at the plate going a perfect 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Queen, Jesse Brown and Nate Brown also had multiple hits in the game.

Pitching in relief, Meyer pitched four innings, giving up only two runs on four hits with five strikeouts.

“This was a great learning experience for us. The tournament setting is not something we had seen yet this year and adjusting to playing every day is a tough thing to get used to,” Laughlin said. “I thought our guys did an excellent job of being ready to play each day and being focused on the task at hand.”

Laughlin noted that every game situation is different in baseball, “and I see the guys starting to understand where the play needs to be made and what they need to do with the baseball.”

He also praised improvement in the team’s base running.