Pioneers’ woes continue at Douglas

Head to Cody Friday as state looms

Posted 7/16/19

The Powell Legion A baseball team was on the road over the weekend, competing in the Bolln Memorial Wood Bat Tournament in Douglas.

The Pioneers finished 0-4, losing games to Douglas on Friday, …

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Pioneers’ woes continue at Douglas

Head to Cody Friday as state looms

Posted

The Powell Legion A baseball team was on the road over the weekend, competing in the Bolln Memorial Wood Bat Tournament in Douglas.

The Pioneers finished 0-4, losing games to Douglas on Friday, Wheatland and Torrington on Saturday and the Cheyenne Hawks on Sunday. Despite going winless for the tourney, Powell manager Joe Cates said there were positives to be taken from the weekend — especially on the mound.

“We threw better, actually,” Cates said. “I think we were throwing strikes more often. I’m actually happy to say that our pitching was better than it has been the last few weeks. Our approaches at the plate were a little better, they’re swinging hard. there were some positives.”

Powell’s losing skid has now reached six games. With just four games left in the regular season, the Pioneers need some momentum as they head into the state tournament in Douglas July 31. They take on their cross-county rivals Friday in Cody, and will wrap up their season at home next Tuesday in a twin bill against Lovell. Powell has qualified for the state tournament in Douglas beginning July 31; which team shows up, according to Cates, will be up to them.

“I keep telling these guys, ‘Have fun, try things,’” Cates said. “Play like it’s backyard baseball, have some fun with it. It’s almost like they struggle to have fun. We’ll continue to work on our pickoffs and holding baserunners. We’ll continue to work on our bunt defense. And a lot of swinging. We gotta hit the ball to win. If we can get everyone firing on all cylinders for state, we’ve got a shot to win some ball games.”

 

Douglas 9, Pioneers 2

Powell opened the tournament against host Douglas, taking an early 1-0 lead. But the Cats plated three runs in the third inning and four runs in the sixth en route to a 9-2 win.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first, Cameron Schmidt grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Kobe Ostermiller and giving the Pioneers the early advantage. The Cats answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the second to tie the game, then plated three runs in the third to take a 4-1 lead.

Powell halved the lead in the top of the fifth. After loading the bases on an Ostermiller hit-by-pitch, a Colin Queen single and a Jesse Brown walk, Schmidt again got the RBI for the Pioneers, scoring Queen on a sacrifice grounder.

That was as close as the Pioneers would get, however, as Douglas scored a run in the bottom of the fifth and four more in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach at 9-2.

Queen got the start on the mound for the Pioneers, giving up five runs on six hits (two earned) and striking out four in five innings of work. Zane Cordes and Ashton Brewer each pitched in relief, combining for four runs on two hits (one earned).

“Colin [Queen] smashed his hand at work last Monday, so he didn’t practice a lot last week,” Cates said. “He threw OK — he struggled a little bit. He didn’t have control of his change-up and curveball like he normally does. But he threw fairly well.”

Powell had just two hits in the game: a single each from Queen and Noah Blough. Schmidt had both RBIs.

 

Wheatland 12, Pioneers 8

The Pioneers came out strong against Wheatland in their first game Saturday, scoring five runs in the first inning to take an early 5-3 lead. Struggles on the mound continued, however, as the Lobos took advantage of six walks and four hit batters to eke out a 12-8 win.

“We jumped out to a 5-3 lead, and couldn’t score again until late,” Cates said. “We gave away a lot just by making baserunning mistakes, and making mistakes in the field.”

Ryley Meyer was a highlight at the plate for Powell, coming up twice with the bases loaded and knocking in four runs. That included a first inning double that cleared the bases.

Jesse Brown took the loss on the hill for the Pioneers in a game that was called early because of a time limit.

“Jesse threw fairly well, but he had an inning where he struggled a bit” with hitting batters, Cates said. “Aside from that, he threw OK.”

 

Torrington 9, Pioneers 7

Trailing Torrington 9-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Pioneers scored three runs to pull within two before running out of steam. The Tigers held on for the 9-7 win. “It was an OK game,” Cates said. “Torrington was just getting timely hits. Every little blooper they hit would drop in, little bleeders through the hole.”

Cameron Wentz took the loss for the Pioneers, giving up six runs on five hits in five innings of work. Landon Sessions pitched two innings in relief, giving up three runs on three hits and striking out one.

“Cameron [Wentz] pitched well — a lot stronger and more confident this time around,” Cates said. “He did everything he needed to do. He came in, threw strikes and did a great job. It’s just nothing that went our way. Not much you can do about it.”

Powell pounded out six hits, led by a pair of singles by Ostermiller. Schmidt and Ashton Brewer had a hit and two RBIs apiece, while Brown and Meyer each had a hit and an RBI.

 

Cheyenne 10, Pioneers 0

Powell got off to a disastrous start Sunday in the final game of the tournament, spotting the Cheyenne Hawks nine runs in the first inning en route to a 10-0 loss.

Meyer got the start for the Pioneers, hitting the first batter he faced, then giving up an RBI double. The Pioneers then allowed eight more runs in the frame with a mixture of walks, errors and dropped third strikes.

The Hawks scored once more in the bottom of the third, and the game was called after four innings.

Meyer lasted just one inning, giving up nine runs on two hits (one earned) and striking out two. Blough pitched two innings in relief, giving up a run on no hits while striking out two.

“I felt bad for Ryley [Meyer], because he came in and was pounding the zone,” Cates said. “He struck out two guys who both ended up reaching base safely [due to dropped third strikes]. We struggled as far as playing defense goes. It’s been a while since we struggled that bad defensively.”

The Pioneers had two hits in the contest, a double by Schmidt and a single by Garrett Stutzman.

Powell Pioneers

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