Pioneers ... Central Lakes-Brainerd
Central Lakes-Brainerd got off to a hot start with 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning. The Pioneers followed that up with 2 of their own in the top of the 2nd. 1B Kam Kostial (Rexburg, ID) walked and 3B Lane Neill (Belgrade, MT) was hit by a pitch. DH Tommy O'Connell (Kalispell, MT) walked to load the bases. Kostial then scored on a passed ball and Neill scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 2-2.
Central Lakes scored 2 more in the bottom of the 2nd to take a 4-2 lead. MCC scored a run in the top of the 3rd to cut the deficit to 4-3. LF Matt Burton (Helena, MT) walked and CF Grant Gabbert (Thorton, CO) singled. RF Kruz Slevira (Billings, MT) drove Burton home with a single to center field.
Central Lakes picked up another run in the bottom of the 3rd for a 5-3 lead. MCC got things going in the top of the 6th inning when Kostial led the inning off with a single. Neill reached base on an error and Kostial moved to 3rd. O'Connell singled home Kostial and Niell advanced to 3rd. 2B Dalton Martin (Gillette, WY) singled to bring in Neill and tie the score 5-5. SS Jessen West (Billings, MT) followed that up with a 2 RBI single to give the Pioneers a 7-5 lead.
Central Lakes picked up a run in the bottom of the 6th and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Cameron Murphy (Torrington, WY) came in to the game and got a huge strikeout to keep the Pioneer lead at one. Murphy struck out 2 more batters in a perfect 7th inning to preserve the 7-6 Pioneer win.
Jacob Walker (Brisbane, Australia) got the start and pitched 5 complete innings (6 H, 5 R, BB, 4 SO). Spencer Searcey (Denver, CO) pitched 0.2 innings (R, 2 BB, SO) before Murphy's appearance.
Inside the Box Score
- 8 different Pioneers had a hit and no one had an extra base hit. Central Lakes had 6 hits from 6 different players.
- MCC walked 5 times and struck out 7. Central Lakes walked 3 times and struck out 8.
- Central Lakes had 2 errors and Miles had one.
- MCC got stolen bases from Gabbert, O'Connell, Neill, and Burton.
Pioneers ... Madison College
Shortly after sneaking out a win over Central Lakes, the Pioneers got off to a slow start against Madison College. The Pioneers went down quietly in the 1st inning and Madison was ready to go by scoring 3 runs on 3 hits in the bottom of the 1st. Madison picked up another run in the bottom of the 2nd after a triple and a sacrifice fly ball RBI.
The scored stayed that way until the bottom of the 6th inning when the Pioneers finally got on the scoreboard. Jessen West and Takumi Kimoto (Brisbane, Australia) had back to back singles with one out. Dalton Martin then hit an RBI single to right field and the Pioneers trailed 4-1. Madison scored 8 more runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to extend the lead to 12-1.
Bridger Erickson (St. Anthony, ID) got the start on the mound and pitched 5.2 innings (11 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 2 SO) before being replaced by Josh Banderob (Great Falls, MT) who pitched 0.1 innings (3 H, 5 R, 2 BB). The loss snapped a 4-game winning streak for MCC. The Pioneers will play a Sunday doubleheader against Rainy River College at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.
Inside the Box Score
- Dalton Martin was the only Pioneer with multiple hits (2). Michael Ohlin and Spencer Searcey each had a double.
- The Pioneers walked 3 times and Madison walked twice.
- The Pioneers committed 4 errors and Madison had 0.
- MCC had 6 hits and Madison had 14.