A night featuring strong pitching allowed the Powell Pioneers to prevail in a doubleheader sweep of Lovell at Cowley Friday night, 7-0 and 8-1. The pair of wins extended the Pioneer’s winning streak to 10 games.

POWELL 7, LOVELL 0

After the initial game was delayed due to rain the Pioneers (27-13 overall, 6-0 ‘A’ Northwest) got things going in the top of the first against the host Mustangs (16-14 overall, 4-4 ‘A’ Northwest).

Singles by Brock Johnson and Jhett Schwahn got things started, placing Johnson on third after he stole second during Schwahn’s at bat to give Powell a runner in scoring position with no outs.

Schwahn stole second before Cade Queen popped out, but Trey Stenerson drove in Johnson on a ground out to make it 1-0 early.

Powell was unable to score any more, a consistent theme early against the Mustangs.

Johnson struck out the first three from Lovell before Powell extended its lead in the top of the second.

Aiden Greenwald singled and advanced on a sac bunt by Jacob Gibson to give Powell a runner at second.

Johnson singled to bring in Greenwald and make it 2-0.

A ground ball by Schwahn led to an error and brought in Johnson all the way from first to extend the lead to 3-0.

Powell maintained the lead as Johnson continued to dominate on the mound and struck out two of three batters in the second.

“Brock threw great,” Pioneers manager Jason Borders said. “We were scoring runs pretty much every inning and our defense held up.”

In the top of the third Ryan Cordes walked and stole second during Aidan Wantulok’s at bat before Wantulok drove him in to make it 4-0.

The Pioneers were unable to do any more damage, but Johnson continued to dominate on the mound and struck out the bottom half of the inning once again to keep his perfect game going.

Johnson walked in the top of the fourth, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third before a sac fly by Schwahn brought him in to make it 5-0.

Queen gave Powell its final multi-run inning, hitting a solo home run over the left field wall to give Powell the 6-0 lead after four.

With two outs in the fourth Lovell finally got its first hit on a single, but Powell maintained the shutout.

Neither team found a hit over the next two innings, but Powell added one more insurance run in the top of the seventh.

Schwahn singled and Queen walked to give Powell two on with no outs.

Schwahn stole third before a balk brought him in to score and give Powell the final margin of 7-0.

Johnson reached his pitch count with one batter left, and Greenwald came in to replace him.

The final out came from Johnson who switched to third base and rifled one to first to give Powell the 7-0 victory.

Johnson finished with 14 strikeouts while giving up two hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings.

He and Schwahn each finished 2-3 with an RBI each.

Queen, Stenerson and Wantulok each finished with an RBI.

POWELL 8, LOVELL 1

In the second game neither team got a hit in the first, with overcast skies threatening to delay the contest with rain in the imminent future.

Cordes singled to get Powell going and advanced to second on a throwing error.

Wantulok singled to bring him around to score and make it 1-0 in the second.

Powell again got strong pitching from Gibson, who gave up one hit until a difficult third inning.

Three straight singles in the bottom of the third loaded the bases for Lovell with one out, and a fielder’s choice scored one to make it 1-1.

Powell got the final out and escaped with no more damage.

In the fourth and fifth innings the teams each earned a single and a walk with neither being able to capitalize.

The Pioneers had to wait until the top of the sixth to reclaim the lead in the rain that had been constant for several innings.

Stenerson walked to lead off and advanced to second on an error by the pitcher.

Cordes advanced Stenerson and got on through a bunt that gave Powell two on with no outs.

Another error by the pitcher allowed Stenerson to score, and Cordes stole second and third. He was unable to escape after being caught in a rundown between third and home after believing the ball had gotten past the Lovell third baseman on the play.

Powell was unable to add to the lead in the sixth, but went into the seventh up 2-1.

Ethan Welch came up with the big hit to get the Pioneers going, hitting a double and subsequently scoring on a Johnson double to extend the lead to 3-1.

“That (Welch) hit was huge,” Borders said. “They were playing at the fence for everybody and his got by.”

A double by Queen brought in Johnson to make it 4-1, before Stenerson and Cordes walked to load the bases.

A single by Dalton Worstell brought in a pair — making it 6-1 and giving Powell more breathing room.

An error by the third baseman on a Cordes steal attempt brought in a run, before a single by Greenwald brought in Worstell to cap off the late offensive explosion and give Powell the 8-1 lead.

The Pioneers finished off the game in the seventh and extended the winning streak to 10 — giving Powell a 6-0 start in the ‘A’ Northwest.

Gibson gave up one earned run with six strikeouts on the mound, finishing with a complete game.

Welch finished with three hits to lead the way — while Worstell led with two RBIs and Johnson, Queen, Wantulok and Greenwald each finished with one RBI.

Powell finished with no errors in either game.

“Usually with the weather you will see a few errors,” Borders said. “For the most part I was happy with it. That’s what we need to do is stack conference wins together to keep pace with Cody.”

The Pioneers were set to complete the regular season series against the Mustangs at home on Monday night, before heading to a tournament in Green River this weekend.

Read more about the Monday night doubleheader along with a preview of the weekend tournament in Thursday’s edition of the Powell Tribune.