The Powell Pioneers extended their current winning streak to eight games after finishing their home tournament with victories over Billings 9-6, Laurel 4-1, and sweeping a Tuesday doubleheader at Lander 15-5 and 17-3.

POWELL 9, BILLINGS 6

Continuing their home tournament on Saturday the Pioneers (25-13 overall, 4-0 ‘A’ Northwest) switched to out-of-state competition, taking on the Billings Expos ‘AA’ (23-15)after the rout of Green River Friday night.

Billings got on the board first, after a walk and an error where Ryan Cordes and Trey Stenerson collided in the field and put two on in the first.

A single brought in both runners and made it 2-0 early.

Powell had an answer, starting with a walk to Brock Johnson. Jhett Schwahn hit into what would’ve been a fielder’s choice but Johnson beat the throw to second. Then a walk to Cade Queen loaded the bases with no outs.

A Stenerson single brought in two, with Schwahn sneaking in before the tag at the plate.

Queen and Stenerson advanced to second and third on the attempted play at home.

Cordes walked to reload the bases, before Dalton Worstell grounded into a fielder’s choice that got Cordes out at second but scored another to give Powell the lead 3-2.

Worstell was caught stealing second but Stenerson stole home to extend the lead to 4-2 after the first inning.

The Expos answered in the second, scoring two again to tie the score at 4-4.

Powell regained the lead in the bottom of the third, leading off and reaching first base after an error on a play by the third baseman for the Expos.

Stenerson continued his hot streak, hitting a home run to left field to recapture the lead 6-4.

Powell was able to extend the lead further in the fourth.

Schwahn was hit by a pitch, Queen hit a double and Stenerson was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.

Powell continued to do damage, with Worstell getting hit by a pitch to bring in a run and extend the lead to 7-4 with one out.

Billings was able to cut back into the lead in the top of the fifth.

Billings got a pair of runs back on a sac fly and a wild pitch, but Powell was able to hold the lead up 7-6.

In the bottom of the fifth, Ethan Welch walked to lead off, Johnson singled and Schwahn singled to bring in a run and extend the lead to 8-6.

Schwahn stole second which allowed Johnson to steal home during Queen’s at bat — however, after Queen flew out the game was called due to the time limit being reached with Powell walking away with a 9-6 victory.

“It was slow, that game had no rhythm to it,” manager Jason Borders said. “It was one of those we had to gut out. It felt like we had command of it for the most part. It just wasn’t pretty.”

Stenerson led the way going 2-2 with four RBIs, Worstell finished with two RBIs and Schwahn earned an RBI.

Schwahn finished only giving up two earned in 4 2/3 innings for the Pioneers.

POWELL 6, LAUREL 1

Rounding out the weekend the Pioneers matched up with the Laurel Dodgers (16-11), with the teams being the only two undefeated on the weekend heading into the final game on Sunday.

Powell was looking to finish the season series with the Dodgers with a 3-1 record after Laurel defeated the Pioneers at the Kirby Drube tournament three weeks prior.

Unlike the day prior the Pioneers got on the board first.

Schwahn singled and stole second to get in scoring position before Stenerson drove him in on a double to make it 1-0 early.

Powell extended the lead in the second when Jacob Gibson was hit by a pitch to lead off, and Welch doubled deep to left field to extend the lead to 2-0.

Welch advanced to third on a ground out by Johnson, before Schwahn singled to bring in another run and make it 3-0.

Cole Fauskee stepped in as a courtesy runner to replace Schwahn after the Pioneers reached two outs.

Stenerson singled and Cordes walked to load the bases with two outs, and a passed ball allowed Fauskee to score and make it 4-0 after two innings.

Stenerson was having a strong day on the mound, allowing one hit until the fourth inning in just his second game of the season in which he pitched.

The second hit he gave up came in the fourth on a double, with a wild pitch advancing the runner and a ground out scoring one to give Laurel its only run of the game to make it 4-1.

Powell got back on the board again in the fifth, after Gibson was hit again and Johnson was hit to give Powell two on with one out.

With two outs, Queen hit a double and brought in both, extending Powell’s lead to 6-1.

Stenerson came off the mound after the fifth, finishing by giving up two hits and one earned run alongside six strikeouts.

“For not throwing as much as he has this year it was a pleasant surprise,” Borders said. “I didn’t want to overthrow him. Trey can be a difference maker for us this season if he gets going.”

Queen came in to close, finishing with three strikeouts and giving up one hit over the final two innings.

“I trust Cade [Queen] to close,” Borders said. “He’s playing with so much confidence right now it’s unreal.”

Queen led the way with two RBIs, while Schwahn, Stenerson and Welch each drove in a run. Stenerson finished 3-3 on the day.

POWELL 15, LANDER 5

Continuing the busy week of action, and playing the seventh and eighth games in six days, the Pioneers made their way down to Lander to take on the Legends (3-15 overall, 0-8 ‘A’ Northwest) in ‘A’ Northwest action.

After struggling against the Legends in their home tournament, the Pioneers came out early and made a statement despite being without Schwahn and Stenerson.

In the top of the second, Worstell singled and Aiden Greenwald doubled to put two runners in scoring position with one out.

Fauskee singled and brought in Worstell and advanced Greenwald.

Fauskee was out advancing to second on a single by Gibson, before Greenwald eventually scored on a passed ball during Welch’s at bat and to make it 2-0.

Welch was hit by a pitch and Cordes hit a double to bring in both runners and make it 4-0 after the top of the second.

Lander got on the board in the second half of the inning, after a walk and a double scored a run to make it 4-1.

Johnson was taken out after the second inning to keep his pitch count low and allow him to play later this week, being replaced by Welch. Johnson finished with five strikeouts.

Powell got its offense going again in the fourth, after a leadoff single by Worstell who then stole second and third. 

A sac fly by Fauskee scored him, but put two outs on the board for Powell.

Gibson singled, Welch advanced on an error and Cordes walked to load the bases.

A triple by Johnson cleared the bases and an error on Queen’s ground ball scored Johnson to make it 9-1 after the fourth.

Lander chipped away at the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two and making it 9-3.

Powell answered with a run in the top of the sixth, after Aidan Wantulok singled, and an error on a strong hit by Worstell scored him.

Worstell was out advancing to third on the play.

Lander got one back after a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, before Powell put the game away for good in the seventh.

A walk to Fauskee led off, who stole all the way to third before Gibson was walked to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Fauskee scored on a passed ball to extend it to 11-4.

Cordes singled and Johnson grounded out to score Gibson and make it 12-4.

Queen singled to make it 13-4 before Wantulok walked to put two on.

Worstell completed his strong hitting day with a double to bring in the pair and make it 15-4.

Lander got one run back in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score 15-5.

“The plan was to throw everybody 30 pitches in both games,” Borders said. “Ethan came out and was hitting his spots … Next thing I know we were in the seventh and up 10.”

Worstell led the way and went 3-5 with two RBIs, while Johnson finished with four RBIs. Cordes and Fauskee each got two RBIs with Queen getting one.

Welch gave up three earned in his five innings on the mound.

POWELL 17, LANDER 3

The small break and a rain delay did not slow down the Pioneers heading into the second matchup of the doubleheader, putting runs up early against the Legends.

Cordes stepped up, hitting the second pitch of the game over the left field wall to give Powell the 1-0 lead.

“That was his first legion home run,” Borders said.

Queen kept things going with a double, and was later brought in on an error on Worstell’s hit to give Powell the early 2-0 lead.

Powell maintained that lead, despite Caden Diaz getting into a jam on the mound with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second.

He was able to get out of it after a ground out into the final out, with Powell maintaining the 2-0 lead.

The lead was added to in the top of the third — Johnson walked and stole second during Wantulok’s at bat before Wantulok hit a single and advanced him to third.

Powell was unable to add to the lead in the third, but pushed it further out in the fourth.

Welch got on after a single with one out and advanced on a Johnson double.

An error on a Queen hit scored Welch and advanced Johnson. Johnson scored after a pickoff attempt at first, making it 5-0.

Diaz got in another jam early in the bottom half of the inning, with two getting on with no outs.

He was unable to escape this time, with a three-run home run getting Lander on the board and cutting the lead to 5-3.

Diaz struck out two of the next three batters along with a fly out to end the inning and get out without any more damage.

“Caden had his struggles in that game but we played defense behind him and swung it really well,” Borders said.

Powell responded in the fifth, after Worstell got on with a single and Greenwald got on after an error on a sacrifice play brought him to first.

Worstell and Greenwald scored during Fauskee’s at bat, as Fauskee hit a single to get on.

Fauskee stole second on Diaz’s at bat and got to third on a passed ball during Welch’s at bat which drove him in to make it 8-3.

Diaz regained control on the mound and allowed only one hit in the fifth and sixth, finishing with eight strikeouts against four hits in six innings of work.

Powell sealed the game in the seventh, after three walks loaded the bases with one out.

Queen stepped up, and took the second pitch over the left field fence to hit a grand slam and give Powell a 12-3 lead.

“It was gone from the time it left his bat,” Borders said.

Two singles got Wantulok and Worstell on — a fielder’s choice got Wantulok out at third but put Gibson on first and advanced Worstell to second.

Fauskee was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and a double by Diaz cleared the bases to make it 15-3.

Welch walked before two straight singles by Cordes and Johnson scored a run each and capped off the scoring with Powell up 17-3.

Cordes stepped on the mound for the seventh and gave up one walk before three straight outs ended the game.

Queen led with four RBIs, Diaz finished with three RBIs, Cordes finished with two RBIs while Johnson, Worstell, Fauskee and Welch each had one apiece.

LOVELL DOUBLEHEADERS

Powell continues quadrant play after the quick trip on Tuesday with another trip Friday night, heading to Cowley to play Lovell at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to try and run the current winning streak to 10 games.

“I see a pretty scrappy team (Lovell) that doesn’t quit,” Borders said. “If they get hot and we come out like we did against Lander, they can beat us easily.”

The Pioneers have won 15 of their last 17 games since the Kirby Drube Memorial Tournament at the end of May, a weekend Borders called the turning point of the Pioneers’ season.

“We are just trying to find consistency and I feel like we are,” Borders said. “I feel like that (tournament) was the turning point for our season.”

The quadrant fun doesn’t stop on Friday for Lovell and Powell, with Lovell making the return trip to Powell on Monday night to wrap up the season series in quick succession.

First pitches on Monday are scheduled for the same times as Friday.