The Powell Legion A baseball team ended its regular season Tuesday at home, splitting a doubleheader with Lovell.

The first game against Lovell was a back-and-forth contest, with the Pioners holding on for an 8-6 win. The second game, however, was all Mustangs, as the visitors got off to a hot start and never took their foot off the gas, cruising to a 17-4 win.

“That was the story of our whole season, wrapped up in two games,” said Powell manager Joe Cates.

Between the two games, the Pioneers honored four-year starter Cameron Schmidt, as he donned the catcher’s gear for the final time at Ed Lynn Memorial Field.

The recent Powell High School graduate was joined on the field by his family and teammates, as KPOW’s Scott Mangold read off a list of Schmidt’s accomplishments as a Pioneer. Schmidt’s coach for the past three seasons said whoever steps behind the plate for the Pioneers in the future will have some big shoes to fill.

“Cameron Schmidt has meant a lot to this ball club, he’s been a pleasure to have,” Cates said. “He’s a leader by example, a big physical kid. He works his butt off, and he’s also the guy that will get on his teammates when he has to. It can’t always come from the coach, and that’s going to be missed.”

Also receiving recognition between the games were the Powell Majors and Minors Little League All-Stars and the Pioneers’ B and C squads.

With the regular season in the books, the Pioneers will turn their attention to the Class A State Tournament, scheduled to begin Wednesday, July 31 in Douglas. Cates said the team will continue working on the fundamentals, though one thing needs to improve above all else.

“I gotta get guys to throw strikes,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot of games we easily could have won because we can’t throw strikes.”

Pioneers 8, Lovell 6

The Pioneers had their way with Lovell when the teams met in Cowley earlier this season, sweeping a doubleheader by scores of 16-5 and 10-2.

But the Mustangs — who missed out on a chance to go to next week’s state tournament because of a clerical mix-up — came into Powell as a team with nothing to lose, and they played like it. The two teams traded leads until the Pioneers put together back-to back three-run innings in the fourth and the fifth to hold on for the 8-6 win.

Lefty Colin Queen got the start on the mound for the Pioneers, and took a little while to find his groove, spotting the Mustangs a 3-0 lead after two innings. Queen settled in after that, giving up six runs on three hits and striking out six in 6 1/3 innings.

“Colin struggled a little bit. I think he walked two batters early, but didn’t walk a guy again until his last batter,” Cates said, adding, “He has to fine-tune some things, and I’m sure he’ll be better in his next start.”

The Pioneers loaded the bases twice in the first two innings, but were unable to capitalize. Trailing 3-1, the Pioneers took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth, plating three runs to make it 4-3. Canyon Gonzales scored his second run of the game on a Kobe Ostermiller single; Jesse Brown singled in Ostermiller to tie the game. With two on and two out, Brown scored on a wild pitch, giving Powell the lead.

Lovell wasted no time regaining the advantage in the top of the fifth, plating two runs to make it 5-4.

“Lovell hit the ball well,” Cates said. “They were patient at the plate and geared up on Colin [Queen’s] fastball and were putting his off-speed pitch into play.”

The Pioneers answered in the bottom of the frame, scoring three more runs to take the lead for good at 7-5. With the bases loaded and one out, Ostermiller hit a long sacrifice fly to center, scoring Ryley Meyer to tie the game at 5-5. Brown then drove in his second run of the game, singling in Landon Sessions to make it 7-5.

The Pioneers scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth, when Meyer scored on a Gonzales single. The Mustangs cut the lead to 8-6 in the top of the seventh but could get no closer, as the Pioneers held on for the win.

“It was good to see the fight in the kids to keep coming back like that,” Cates said.

With Queen over the 100-pitch mark, Cameron Wentz came on in relief in the top of the seventh, giving up no runs and no hits and walking one to close out the game.

The Pioneers pounded out 11 hits in the contest, led by Brown’s 2-for-4, three-RBI performance. Gonzales also had a two-hit game, driving in a run. Ostermiller, Queen, Schmidt, Ashton Brewer, Meyer, Sessions and Wentz each collected a hit, with Ostermiller driving in two runs and Queen driving in one.

“I think everyone was hitting the ball well,” Cates said. “... But those first two innings were shaky — we can’t leave that many guys on base.”

Lovell 17, Pioneers 4

Tuesday’s nightcap was all Lovell, as the Pioneers’ pitching fell apart at the seams. After a scoreless first, the Mustangs plated seven runs in the second and six in the third to take a 13-2 lead. With four more runs in the top of the fifth, Lovell coasted to a 17-4 win.

Meyer got the start on the hill for Powell, and held the Mustangs scoreless in the first. But after getting the first batter of the second inning to fly out, the game began to unravel.

By game’s end, the Pioneers had gone through four pitchers and given up 19 free bases in the form of 14 walks and five hit batters.

“We couldn’t throw a strike to save our life,” Cates said. “It’s hard to win a ball game when you give up 19 free bases. And then we gave up 10 hits as well. We missed a lot of pitches. And it’s not like we were missing close — we weren’t missing by inches, we were missing by feet.”

The Pioneers scattered six hits over five innings, with Ostermiller, Queen, Brown, Gonzales, Schmidt and Noah Blough each collecting a hit; Queen, Brown, Gonzales and Garrett Stutzman each drove in a run.

On the mound, Meyer, Sessions, Ostermiller and Zane Cordes combined to give up 17 runs on 10 hits, with Cordes striking out three and Meyer one.