Game 1 - Pioneers 12... Dakota College @ Bottineau 1 (5 innings)

Sophomore right hand hurler Jacob Walker (Brisbane, Australia) tossed a one hitter on Sunday morning and struck out 8 as the Pioneers crept one win closer to the outright MonDak Conference championship. Walker threw only 68 pitches in the game and 47 of those were for strikes. He didn't walk a Lumberjack batter and DCB's only run was an unearned run in the 3rd inning. 

The Pioneers took advantage of 6 walks, 3 hit batsmen, and 3 Lumberjack errors to score 12 runs on only 8 hits. MCC had only one extra base hit in the game and scored 6 runs in the 2nd innings, another in the 3rd, and 5 in the 4th to end the game in 5 innings. 

Brady Bickett (CF - Rapid City, SD) had a 2-3 (2B, RBI, R, BB) day at the plate and Lance Bratlien (RF - Helena, MT) was also 2-3 (3 RBI, R) as they were the only 2 players with multiple hits. Coleman Parry (1B - American Fork, UT) brought his RBI total thru 3 games to 14 with a 2 RBI single in the 2nd inning. 

The Pioneers 5-run 4th inning was highlighted by base hits from Kade Mosley (3B - Miles City, MT), Jaden Salazar (LF - Chicago, IL), Bratlien (2 RBI), and a RBI double from Bickett. 

Inside the Box Score

• DCB had 3 errors and MCC had 0.
• Pioneer batters struck out 4 times and Lumberjack batters struck out 8. 
• MCC had 6 stolen bases. 

Game 2 - Pioneers 6... Dakota College @ Bottineau 4

The MCC Pioneers hung on for dear life in the 7th inning after taking a 6-1 lead and watching the Lumberjacks cut the lead to 6-4 with the tying run at the plate. The victory gave the Pioneers the outright MonDak Conference championship with a 22-2 conference record. 

The Pioneers opened the scoring in the 1st inning with 3 runs after Spencer Searcey (CF - Denver, CO) was hit by a pitch, Jace Notbohm (DH - Miles City, MT) singled, and Kade Mosley reached base on an error to load the bases. Coleman Parry hit a sacrifice fly RBI and Jessen West (SS - Billings, MT) walked to load the bases again. Taichi Fujinaga (2B - Honolulu, HI) knocked a 2 RBI single to centerfield. 

After DCB cut the lead to 3-1 in the 3rd inning, MCC got 3 more runs in the 4th inning. Notbohm connected on a 2-out home run and then Dyson Kinnaman (3B - Belgrade, MT) singled and Coleman Parry hit his 15th home run of the season to account for 17 RBI in the 4 game series. 

DCB scored 2 in the 5th inning to cut the lead to 6-3 and then scored in the 7th but after giving up back to back singles, Notbohm got the Pioneers out of the jam and the Pioneers were the champions. 

Brady Bickett got the start on the mound and pitched 3 innings (H, R, 3 SO). Tyler Cutler (Helena, MT) pitched the next 2 innings (3 H, 2 R, BB, 4 SO) and Sam Hall (Eureka, MT) took over the 6th inning and struck out the side. Notbohm pitched the 7th inning (2 H, R, SO).

Inside the Box Score

• MCC had 7 hits and DCB had 6.
• Pioneer batters struck out only twice. DCB batters struck out 11 times. 
• MCC had 2 errors and DCB had 1.
• DCB stole 2 bases and the Pioneers had none. 

The Pioneers will now host Lake Region State College on May 4-5 in the MonDak playoff in a best of 3 series with game 1 first pitch at 2:00 PM. Game 2 will be 30 minutes after game 1 and the if necessary game 3 would be Sunday. The winner will advance to the Region XIII Playoffs May 10-11.