Game 1 - Pioneers 11... Northland CC 1 (5 Innings)
MCC started out hot scoring 3 runs in the top of the 1st inning and then followed that up with 7 in the 3rd to take a convincing 11-1 win over Northland CC in 5 innings on Wednesday morning in Tucson. Northland pitching started the game by hitting the first 3 Pioneer batters to load the bases. 1B Kaleb Breeze (West Valley City, UT) then hit a triple to centerfield to clear the bases and give the Pioneers a 3-0 lead.
The 7-run 3rd inning got started on a 3B Tyler Tenney (Helena, MT) single followed by a DH Clay Prell (Miles City, MT) walk. C Karter Yancey (St. Anthony, ID) singled on a bunt to the pitcher to load the bases once again for MCC. LF Chase Reimer (Gillette, WY) hit in to a fielder's choice that scored Tenney. 2B Dalton Martin (Gillette, WY) hit a pop single that scored Prell to make the score 5-0. SS Jaeden Jordahl (Billings, MT) singled in Reimer and pushed Martin 2nd. CF Jake Lacey (Gillette, WY) continued his hot bat with a 2-run doulbe to centerfield scoring Martin and Jordahl. RF Ian Krump (Rapid City, SD) singled in Lacey and the Pioneers led 9-0. Krump then stole 2nd and was singled in by Breeze for a commanding 10-0 lead.
The final run for the Pioneers came in the top of the 4th after a pair of walks, Brady Jones (Manhattan, MT) doubled in Reimer. Northland pushed in a late run in the bottom of 5th but it was too late. Breeze was the only Pioneer with a multi-hit game and he also had 4 RBI. The Pioneers scattered 10 hits, walked 4 times, and struck out 3 times. Northland pitching hit 6 MCC batters in the game.
Bridger Erickson (St. Anthony, ID) had a strong performance on the mound for MCC. He pitched 4 innings and only gave up 2 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 6 Northland batters. Wyatt Searcy (Littleton, CO) pitched the final inning, giving up 1 run on 1 hit.
Game 2 - Pioneers 6... Aurora 15
Once again, the Pioneers got off to a hot start by scoring 3 runs in the first inning. Aurora U. had other thoughts though as they scored 1 in the 1st, 6 more in the 2nd, and 2 in the 3rd to build a 9-3 lead and wouldn't look back in a 15-6 win Wednesday afternoon. The Pioneers made a little push in the 6th inning scoring 3 to cut the lead to 11-6 but Aurora answered with 4 more in the bottom of the inning for the final runs of the game.
The Pioneers had 10 hits in the game headed by a 2-4 (double, triple) effort from Jake Lacey. Ian Krump also went 2-4 (double) and an RBI. DH Ryota Kusumoto (Australia) also had a 2-3 (triple) day at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. Jaeden Jordahl and C Takumi Kimoto (Australia) had the other RBI's for the Pioneers. MCC struck out 4 times and walked only once.
Cy Miller (Helena, MT) got the start and had a tough go on the mound. He went 2 innings and gave up 7 runs on 5 hits. He walked 5 batters and had a strikeout. Noah Aliff (Centralia, WA) pitched the next 3 innings and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits. He walked only 1 and struck out 2. Wyatt Searcy again pitched the final inning and gave up 4 runs on 2 hits, walking 1 and striking out 1. The Pioneer defense didn't help itself in the game by committing a season high 10 errors.
The Pioneers are now 8-7 on the season and play a doubleheader on Friday against Central Lakes CC at 4:00 and 7:00 PM MST.