What started as a promising weekend for the Powell Pioneers fell apart during rare back-to-back losses to the Billings Halos at the Halos Invitational Wood Bat Tournament last weekend. Powell began the event with wins over Big League Baseball and the Billings Blue Jays. Powell opened play with an 11-3 win Thursday over Big League Baseball of Billings. A six-run sixth inning provided the bulk of Powell's damage and helped the team tear open what had been a low-scoring game until that point. Scotty Jameson and Josh Cragoe each finished 3-for-4 at the plate in the contest with Jameson driving home two runs for the Pioneers. Colter Bostick took the win, throwing five innings and allowing just one earned run. He allowed two hits but walked eight while fanning six. Jake Buester threw the final two innings, allowing two runs and three hits. The Pioneers followed that victory with a narrow 2-1 win over the Blue Jays. “I felt like we were hitting the ball well,” said Pioneers coach Jeff Young. “We kept making contact and I kept waiting for us to add a few runs and we never did. The ball just kept going at someone.”Fortunately for Powell, the Blue Jays weren't hitting well against Jameson. The Pioneers' ace held the Jays to just five hits on the night while fanning eight. Still, he had to induce a ground ball to third with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to ice the victory. Jameson was also 3-for-3 at the plate with both Powell runs. Grant Geiser had the lone Pioneer RBI in the contest, which ran the Pioneers' latest winning streak out to nine games. That proved to be Powell's final tournament victory, however. The Pioneers fell 7-4 to the Halos on Friday night before dropping an 8-4 decision to the Halos in Saturday's semifinals. “We had some calls that didn't go our way in the first game, and I think we let that get to us,” said Young. “The Saturday game, we just shot ourselves in the foot. We made too many errors and the Halos capitalized on them. They put the ball in play and we never seemed to get on track.”Josh Cragoe took the loss in Friday night's game for Powell. The Pioneer starter allowed just two hits, but walked four as the Halos made the most of the opportunities. Jameson again led the way at the plate, notching Powell's only multi-hit performance. Tyler Dahlgren singled home a pair of runs in the fifth inning to account for half of Powell's scoring. Cragoe also notched an RBI. Saturday's game saw Geiser take the loss on the hill, despite fanning six Halos batters. The Powell pitcher surrendered 10 hits, all singles, in the loss. Geiser countered by going 2-for-3 at the plate, scoring two of the Pioneers' four runs. As a team, the Pioneers struggled for just six hits. “Our hit count was down this weekend, but that's what happens when you play with wood bats,” said Young. “It's not easy by any means.”Powell hosts Riverton in a doubleheader tonight (Tuesday) before heading to Cody on Wednesday night for another pair of games. The Pioneers wrap up the regular season on Saturday with a home date against Sheridan.

What started as a promising weekend for the Powell Pioneers fell apart during rare back-to-back losses to the Billings Halos at the Halos Invitational Wood Bat Tournament last weekend. Powell began the event with wins over Big League Baseball and the Billings Blue Jays.

Powell opened play with an 11-3 win Thursday over Big League Baseball of Billings. A six-run sixth inning provided the bulk of Powell's damage and helped the team tear open what had been a low-scoring game until that point.

Scotty Jameson and Josh Cragoe each finished 3-for-4 at the plate in the contest with Jameson driving home two runs for the Pioneers. Colter Bostick took the win, throwing five innings and allowing just one earned run. He allowed two hits but walked eight while fanning six. Jake Buester threw the final two innings, allowing two runs and three hits.

The Pioneers followed that victory with a narrow 2-1 win over the Blue Jays.

“I felt like we were hitting the ball well,” said Pioneers coach Jeff Young. “We kept making contact and I kept waiting for us to add a few runs and we never did. The ball just kept going at someone.”

Fortunately for Powell, the Blue Jays weren't hitting well against Jameson. The Pioneers' ace held the Jays to just five hits on the night while fanning eight. Still, he had to induce a ground ball to third with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to ice the victory.

Jameson was also 3-for-3 at the plate with both Powell runs. Grant Geiser had the lone Pioneer RBI in the contest, which ran the Pioneers' latest winning streak out to nine games.

That proved to be Powell's final tournament victory, however. The Pioneers fell 7-4 to the Halos on Friday night before dropping an 8-4 decision to the Halos in Saturday's semifinals.

“We had some calls that didn't go our way in the first game, and I think we let that get to us,” said Young. “The Saturday game, we just shot ourselves in the foot. We made too many errors and the Halos capitalized on them. They put the ball in play and we never seemed to get on track.”

Josh Cragoe took the loss in Friday night's game for Powell. The Pioneer starter allowed just two hits, but walked four as the Halos made the most of the opportunities.

Jameson again led the way at the plate, notching Powell's only multi-hit performance. Tyler Dahlgren singled home a pair of runs in the fifth inning to account for half of Powell's scoring. Cragoe also notched an RBI.

Saturday's game saw Geiser take the loss on the hill, despite fanning six Halos batters. The Powell pitcher surrendered 10 hits, all singles, in the loss.

Geiser countered by going 2-for-3 at the plate, scoring two of the Pioneers' four runs. As a team, the Pioneers struggled for just six hits.

“Our hit count was down this weekend, but that's what happens when you play with wood bats,” said Young. “It's not easy by any means.”

Powell hosts Riverton in a doubleheader tonight (Tuesday) before heading to Cody on Wednesday night for another pair of games. The Pioneers wrap up the regular season on Saturday with a home date against Sheridan.