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Pioneers Rout Mystics in Game One; Falter Late in Game Two

Pioneers Rout Mystics in Game One; Falter Late in Game Two
Posted: Apr 26, 2023

Game 1 - Pioneers ... Bismarck State

The MCC Pioneers hit the road in conference play for the 1st time this season and the results were quite good. The Pioneers scored early and often while getting a strong pitching performance from Jeremy Gee (Brigham City, UT). Gee had a perfect game going until issuing a walk in the 5th inning and a no hitter until giving up a home run in the 6th. Gee finished a complete game masterpiece allowing only one run on one hit, with one walk and 7 strikeouts. 

DH Tommy O'Connell (Kalispell, MT) was swinging a big bat on Wednesday afternoon going 2-3 (HR, 4 RBI) and his 3-run home run in the 3rd inning broke the game open. 

The Pioneers scored a run in the 1st inning when SS Jaeden Jordahl (Billings, MT) walked and stole 2nd. He was driven in on a hard single to right field by O'Connell with 2 outs. MCC got another run in the 2nd inning when 3B Lane Neill (Belgrade, MT) was hit by a pitch and 1B Spencer Searcey (Denver, CO) singled. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch and Neill scored on a 2B Jessen West (Billings, MT) ground out. 

The 3rd inning started with singles by LF Grant Gabbert (Thorton, CO) and C Takumi Kimoto (Brisbane, Australia). O'Connell followed that up with his bomb that gave the Pioneers a 5-0 lead. MCC talked on 2 more in the 4th inning when West singled and Jordahl was hit by a pitch. Gabbert doubled to drive in West and Kimoto hit a sacrifice fly ball to right field that drove in Jordahl to make the score 7-0.

The league swelled to 9-0 in the 5th inning after a Neill walk and another walk to RF Matt Burton (Helena, MT). Neill advanced to 3rd ona fielder's choice and the bases were loaded when Jordahl was hit by a pitch. Neill scored on a passed ball and West scored on a wild pitch to give MCC control of the game. The Pioneers added one more in the 7th inning after Jordahl reached base on a fielder's choice, moved to 2nd when Gabbert was hit by a pitch, stole 3rd, and then scored on a wild pitch. 

Inside the Box Score

  • The Pioneers finished with 8 hits and BSC had 1.
  • MCC walked 4 times and was hit by 5 pitches. 
  • BSC had 2 errors and the Pioneers 1. 
  • Jordahl had 2 stolen bases. 
  • O'Connell had a HR and Gabbert had a double for the Pioneers only extra base hits. 

Game 2 - 

Jaeden Jordahl started game 2 off with a bang. Jordahl led off the bottom of the 1st with a solo home run and MCC piled up 5 runs in the 1st inning. Grant Gabbert walked and with one out, Tommy O'Connell reached on a BSC error. CF Kruz Slevira (Billings, MT) walked to load the bases and Gabbert scored when Lane Neill was hit by a pitch. Spencer Searcey singled to drive in O'Connell and RF Wyatt Searcey (Denver, CO) hit a sacrifice fly RBI to make the score 4-0. Jessen West followed that with a single to drive in Neill and the Pioneers led 5-0.

BSC got a run in the 2nd and the Pioneers answered in the bottom of the 2nd when Jordahl connected for his 2nd solo home run in as many innings. BSC got another run in the 3rd to make the score 6-2 and MCC got 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd when Spencer Searcey walked and Wyatt Searcey hit a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Jessen West drove in Spencer Searcey with a with a sacrifice fly. Wyatt Searcey then scored on a wild pitch from Bismarck State. 

The Mystics tacked on a run in the 5th and another in the 6th to make the score 8-4. In the top of the 7th, the Mystics were down to their last out with no runners on base and tallied 4 runs to tie the game at 8-8. The score stayed that way until the top of the 10th inning when the Mystics scored a run on a Pioneer error to take a 9-8 lead. The Pioneers went down in order in the bottom of the 10th and were unable to come away with the sweep.

Bridger Erickson (St. Anthony, ID) got the start and pitched 6.2 innings (6 H, 4 R, 3 SO). Cameron Murphy (Torrington, WY) walked the 2 batters he faced and Patrick Dietz (Manhattan, MT) pitched the final 3.1 innings (3 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 SO).

Inside the Box Score

  • The Pioneers outhit the Mystics 11-9. 
  • MCC had 3 errors and the Mystics had 2. 
  • Pioneer pitchers walked 4 Mystic batters and hit 2 others. Mystic pitchers walked 5 batters and hit 2 others.
  • Spencer Searcey, O'Connell, and Jordahl each had 2 hits for MCC. West and Jordahl each had 2 RBI. 
  • Bismarck State had the only stolen base of the game.  

The Pioneers still lead the MonDak Conference standings with a 15-3 record and are 29-10 overall. MCC will travel to Bottineau, ND for a doubleheader on Friday at 12:00 and 3:00 PM MST.