Thirteen fielding errors hinder Pioneers during 1-3 weekend

In struggling with two of the three major facets of baseball, the Powell Pioneers came away with just one win in four games on Saturday and Sunday.

The Pioneers dropped to 3-5 after struggling at the plate and in the field during a win against Sidney to open play Saturday and three straight losses to Miles City and Billings (two games). All three opponents reside in Montana.

The Pioneers have been plagued offensively for most of the early season, and errors haven’t helped their cause either.

“Story of our summer so far,” head coach Jason Borders said. “We just didn’t hit the ball. We didn’t hit the ball all weekend. We were just hitting balls right at people. We couldn’t get anything to fall. If you’re not getting hits, you’re struggling. I guess I have to look at it that way.”

Powell committed a combined 13 errors over the weekend, leading to 12 unearned runs (32 allowed) over the four games.

“We just need to get things cleaned up,” Borders said. “Our guys are pitching well, we just need to get the gloves behind them going.”

Powell played a doubleheader against Northwest Conference foe Lovell on Monday, and faces visiting Sheridan for a twin bill at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Ed Lynn Memorial Field in Powell. Results of the four games will be in the Thursday edition of the Powell Tribune.

Pioneers 4, Sidney 3

A highlight of the weekend saw the Pioneers use some small ball to get past Sidney in Miles City on Friday.

With the game tied at three in the top of the seventh inning, Cory Heny reached on an error before moving to third on a dropped third strike. Power-hitting Grady Sanders then shocked Sidney with a suicide squeeze bunt, which brought a streaking Heny to the plate for the go-ahead run.

“Grady laid down a beautiful bunt,” Borders said. “It’s one of those things we work on. We take a lot of pride in our bunting and being able to manufacture runs.”

Ty Dearcorn (1-1) picked up the win in relief of Heny, who started for Powell. Dearcorn went three innings, allowing two runs (one earned), on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts. Carson Asher pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, including two strikeouts, to earn the save.

The Pioneers managed just two hits, both of which came from Heny, who doubled and tripled. Kaden Moore added an RBI for Powell.

Miles City 6, Powell 0

Seven Powell errors wasted an otherwise strong start by Kaden Moore on Friday.

Hoping to use Moore as a spot-starter to save some arms for this week’s action, Borders got more than he bargained for. Moore (0-1) went the distance with six innings pitched allowing two earned runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Moore’s solid outing left Borders rethinking the way he may use the youngster in the future.

“That was pretty good for Kaden. First game we’ve thrown him and he went the distance against a pretty tough baseball team,” Borders said. “For him to come in and throw that well, that really helped us. Kaden will fall into the rotation now. He was just one of those arm burners who we threw in to save innings. But he went in there and shut them down.

“I was totally impressed with him. He just keeps impressing us. He’s just going to keep getting better and better.”

While Powell’s pitching remained strong, six Pioneers committed a defensive miscue, and the offense failed to make up for it as Powell was again limited to two hits.

Billings 12, Powell 0

On Saturday, the visiting Billings Halos poured on the offense on four Pioneer pitchers, and the Halos’ pitching stifled host Powell as 15-year-old Tyler Feller collected the Pioneers’ lone hit of the game.

Matt Brown suffered the loss after two innings of work and fell to 1-1 this season.

The lack of hitting that has hindered his squad so far this season can’t be easily fixed, Borders said.

“We can’t work on it. The season has started. We’re not going to fix it in one practice,” Borders said. “They’re just going to have to work themselves out of it in game situations. We just don’t have a choice.”

Billings 11, Powell 2

Powell’s bats broke out a little bit in its final game of the weekend, knocking four hits against the Halos.

“We came out a little better with putting the bat on the ball,” Borders said. “They woke up a little bit.”

Toby Stowe had two hits for the Pioneers, while Asher had an RBI. Feller, who went 3 1/3 innings, allowing six earned runs on three hits with six walks and four strikeouts, suffered the loss.