A dominant first outing and close second game victory, coupled with losses by Cody on Sunday, secured a spot for the Powell Pioneers at the Division I Tournament in Gillette this week, as the Pioneers defeated Riverton 13-0 and 2-1 on Thursday to end the regular season at home.

POWELL 13, RIVERTON 0

Back home on Thursday the Pioneers (24-24-1 overall, 9-5 Senior North) welcomed in the Raiders (21-22 overall, 5-9 Senior North).

After allowing two baserunners in the top of the first the Pioneers got on the board in the bottom half, as Ben Ostermiller walked with two outs and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

He stole third, and an errant throw by the Raider’s catcher to third allowed Ostermiller to round home and score to make it 1-0.

Powell blew the game open in the third, starting with a leadoff single by August Teten.

Older brother Abel Teten was hit by a pitch, and Talon Nuss’s bunt was called safe at first after the first baseman was off the bag to load the bases with no outs.

Jordan Loera doubled up the right field line, scoring both Tetens to make it 3-0.

Ostermiller flew out to right field, and an error by the catcher trying to get a second out at second base allowed both Nuss and Loera to score and make it 5-0.

Powell reloaded the bases after that first out. Dominik Bieber singled, Caden Diaz was hit by a pitch and Rowan Diaz singled.

Ryder Stewart and both Tetens singled, each driving in one to make it 8-0.

After an infield fly, Loera was hit by a pitch to score another, before Ostermiller stepped up and hit a moon shot over the left field wall to clear the bases with a grand slam and make it 13-0.

Powell allowed one runner in the top of the fourth, but ended the game with the 13-0 margin via the run rule.

“We played really well in that first game offensively and defensively,” manager Jason Borders said. “We had to win one of those for sure to give ourselves a chance, so to come out and end that one in four innings was pretty big for the program.”

August Teten was the only Pioneer with multiple hits with two, as Ostermiller led with four RBIs just ahead of Loera with three.

Ostermiller went the entire game on the mound, giving up two hits, three walks and striking out nine.

“He was dialed in,” Borders said. “When he’s throwing strikes and sitting people down, it gives us confidence.”

Powell outhit Riverton 9-2 as the Raiders committed the only two errors in the game.

POWELL 2, RIVERTON 1

In the second contest both teams got runners in the first and Riverton added in the top of the second, but Powell got on the board first in the bottom of the second.

Stewart walked, Rowan hit a sac bunt, and a ground out advanced Stewart to third.

An error on Abel’s contact scored Stewart and gave Powell the 1-0 lead.

Powell had a chance to add after walks to Nuss and Loera, but a picked off runner ended the inning.

It took until the fourth for the Pioneers to add to their lead, as Rowan walked and advanced on a sac bunt by Carter Fauskee.

Abel singled to put runners on the corners, before a balk during Nuss’s at bat scored Diaz and gave Powell a 2-0 lead.

Riverton got a run back in the top of the fifth, as a single and a deep double to right field scored a run and made it 2-1.

Powell had a chance to add to the lead in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases through a Rowan walk, Fauskee single and Nuss walk, but was unable to add to the lead as it remained 2-1.

A strikeout and two pop outs in the top of the seventh ended the contest as Powell earned the 2-1 win.

“It was nice to come out on top of one of those because earlier in the year we were losing those 2-1 instead of winning them 2-1,” Borders said.

Riverton outhit Powell 4-3, but committed the lone error in the contest.

Ostermiller, Fauskee and Abel had hits for the Pioneers.

Caden went the full game, giving up four hits, one earned run, five walks and nine strikeouts.

“Caden threw one of his better games of the year when we needed it,” Borders said. “That game was just as big as Ben’s when it came to getting the job done on the mound.”

TOP TOURNEY

After consistency evaded the Pioneers throughout the conference season, they finished the regular season winning five of six contests in the slate, for nine conference wins.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to be here,” Borders said. “We won games when we were supposed to and got ourselves there.”

That meant the Pioneers were tied with the Sheridan Jets for conference wins, and the two split their regular season contests in conference.

Against common opponents in the Senior North both teams went 8-4 against common opponents including each other, meaning it came down to runs allowed for the No. 3 seed.

Sheridan gave up 55 runs against common opponents while Powell gave up 42.

That gives Powell a date with the No. 2 seed out of the south in the Casper Oilers (32-23 overall, 12-2 Senior South) at 10 a.m. on Friday in Gillette.

Powell is by far the smallest team by population in the tournament, with Borders noting a different mentality heading to this tournament compared to year’s past.

“It’s gonna be the mentality we’ve taken into a (Class ‘A’) regional tournament in the past. Play one game at a time and see how far we can go,” Borders said. “We want to make it to day five like everybody else.”

That approach means the Pioneers will need to figure out a strong pitching rotation in order to make it as far as they can, while ending as many team’s seasons as they can.

“(Pitching rotation will be) 100% different,” Borders said. “I think we can be out in two days or stay until day four, it just depends on how the chips fall … This year we have nothing to lose, that’s our mentality. We aren’t expected to win … Our goal is to knock people out and ruin their season.”

DIVISION I TOURNAMENT

(All games at Hladky Memorial Stadium. Pairing for games 12 and 13 will not match previous opponents against each other unless absolutely necessary. Game 15 only necessary if Game 14 is team’s first loss)

FRIDAY

Game 1 — 10 a.m. No. 2S Casper Oilers vs. No. 3N Powell Pioneers

Game 2 — 1 p.m. No. 1S Cheyenne Sixers vs. No. 4N Sheridan Jets

Game 3 — 4 p.m. No. 1N Sheridan Troopers vs. No. 4S Cheyenne Hawks

Game 4 — 7:30 p.m. No. 2N Gillette Riders vs. No. 3S Laramie Rangers

SATURDAY

Game 5 — 10 a.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3

Game 6 — 1 p.m. Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 7 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 3

Game 8 — 7 p.m. Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 4

SUNDAY

Game 9 — 1 p.m. Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7

Game 10 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8

Game 11 — 7 p.m. Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8

MONDAY

Game 12 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 11

Game 13 — 7 p.m. Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 11

TUESDAY

Game 14 — Noon Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 13 (Championship game)

Game 15 — 3 p.m. Winner Game 14 vs Loser Game 14 (if necessary)