Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Pioneer Baseball Finishes Home Regular Season Stretch With Sweep

Pioneer Baseball Finishes Home Regular Season Stretch With Sweep
Posted: Apr 23, 2023

Game #1 - Pioneers 9... NDSCS 6

A pitcher's dual quickly turned to the favor of the Pioneer bats as MCC broke open a 1-0 game with 4 runs in the top of the 5th inning, held off a Wildcat rally in the bottom of the 5th, and then got 4 insurance runs in the top of the 7th to hang on for a 9-6 win in game 1 on Monday morning. 

MCC got a strong game from LF Grant Gabbert (Thorton, CO) as he reached base in all 5 of his plate appearances which included a 3-3 effort (2B, RBI, R, 2 BB). The big blow of the game came in the top of the 5th with the Pioneers leading 1-0. 2B Jessen West (Billings, MT) singled and SS Jaeden Jordahl (Billings, MT) was hit by a pitch. Gabbert walked to load the bases and C Takumi Kimoto (Brisbane, Australia) hit a missle over the left field fence for a grand slam home run and a 5-0 lead. 

NDSCS answered with 4 runs of their own to cut the lead to 5-4 after the 5th inning and tied the game up with a run in the 6th. The Pioneers responded in the 7th to squelch any thoughts of a wildcat upset with 4 runs in the top of the 7th. CF Kruz Slevira (Billings, MT) singled to start the inning and 3B Lane Neill (Belgrade, MT) reached base on a sacrifice bunt. After 1B Spencer Searcey (Denver, CO) reached 1st on an error, Slevira scored to make the score 6-5 and Neill moved to 3rd base. West then his a sacrifice bunt that scored Neill and Jordahl hit a double to drive in Searcey. Gabbert followed that up with a RBI sigle that scored Jordahl and gave the Pioneers a 9-5 cushion. 

NDSCS scored a run in the bottom of the 7th but was not enough to pull off the upset of the MonDak Conference leading Pioneers. 

Jacob Walker (Brisbane, Aus) started and pitched 5.1 innings (7 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 4 SO). Josh Banderob (Great Falls, MT) supplied 0.2 innings of relief (2 R, 2 BB, SO) and Cameron Murphy (Torrington, WY) pitched the 7th inning (SO). 

Inside the Box Score

  • The Pioneers had 5 stolen bases and the Wildcats had none.
  • MCC committed 3 errors and NDSCS had 4. 
  • The Pioneers cracked 12 hits to 7 for the Wildcats. 
  • MCC pitchers walked 6 Wildcats and the Pioneers walked 4 times. Each team had a hit batsman.

 

Game 2 - Pioneers 12... NDSCS 2 (5 Innings)

The Pioneers had a much easier time of things in game 2 by smacking 12 hits, taking advantage of 5 NDSCS errors, and riding the strong pitching of Michael Ohlin (Billings, MT) to a 12-2 win in 5 innings. Ohlin pitched a complete game 2-hitter (2 R, 2 SO) and the Pioneers had a big 2nd inning to cruise to the win. 

The Wildcats got a run in the 1st inning and the Pioneers answered in the bottom of the 1st on a Gabbert double with one out and Kimoto was hit by pitch to put runners on 1st and 2nd. DH Tommy O'Connell (Kalispell, MT) reached base on an error to load the bases. Neill drove in Gabbert with a sacrifice fly to center field. 

NDSCS got another run in the top of the 2nd but MCC answered with a huge 7-run 2nd inning. 1B Kam Kostial (Rexburg, ID) started the inning with a walk and CF Brady Jones (Manhattan, MT) hit a hard single. 2B Dalton Martin (Gillette, WY) laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases. Jordahl notched an RBI single to keep the bases loaded. Gabbert singled again to drive in 2 runs for a 4-2 lead. Kimoto then hit a sacrifice fly RBI scoring Jordahl. O'Connell ripped a double to right field to score Gabbert and MCC led 6-2. Neill laid down another good Pioneer bunt to move O'Connell to 3rd base. Neill promptly stole 2nd and O'Connell scored on an error for the throw to 2nd base.  RF Matt Burton (Helena, MT) walked, Kostial was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Brady Jones had a sacrifice fly RBI driving in Neill. 

The Pioneers got another run in bottom of the 3rd inning on a Kimoto sacrifice fly RBI. MCC put the game out of reach with 3 more runs in the 4th inning. With 2 outs Jordahl reached base on an error and then scored on a Gabbert base hit combined with another Wildcat error. Kimoto had an RBI single to drive in Gabbert and O'Connell followed that with an RBI single to scored Kimoto. 

Inside the Box Score

  • Ohlin did not allow a walk in the game. 
  • MCC batters only struck out 2 times. 
  • Gabbert and Kimoto each had 3 RBI. O'Connell added 2. 
  • Gabbert ended the day a perfect 7-7 at the plate (4-4 in game 2). His line for game 2 was 4-4 (2B, 4 R, 3 RBI).
  • MCC had 2 stolen bases. 

MCC is now 14-2 in MonDak Conference play and 28-9 overall. MCC faces 2nd place Bismarck State on Wednesday in Bismarck. They will conclude conference play with doubleheaders on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Bottineau, Williston, and Glendive.