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Pioneers Resume Play in Arizona After Rainouts - Get Swept By Northland Tech

Pioneers Resume Play in Arizona After Rainouts - Get Swept By Northland Tech
Posted: Mar 10, 2024

Game 1 - Pioneers 3... Northland Tech 4 (8 Innings)

The MCC Pioneer resumed play in Arizona after having 4 games rained out and lost a tight 4-3 contest in 8 innings to Northland Tech on Sunday morning. 

Northland punched in a run with one out in the bottom of the 8th being able to start the inning with a runner on 2nd base and the runner moved to 3rd on a fielder's choice and then scored on a single to right field for the win. 

The Pioneers struck first with 2 runs in the top of the 3rd inning. Coleman Parry (1B - American Fork, UT) led the inning off with a single. Brandon Hegedus (C - Littleton, CO) ripped a double to leftfield and drove in Parry. Dyson Kinneman (Belgrade, MT) stepped in as a courtesy runner and stole 3rd and scored on a ground ball out. 

MCC scored another run in the top of the 5th to take a 3-0 lead. Hegedus doubled again and was replaced on the base paths by Kinneman. Kinneman moved to 3rd on a passed ball and then scored on a RBI single from Taichi Fuchinaga (2B - Honolulu, HI).

Northland quickly answered with 3 runs of their own to tie the game at 3-3 after 5 innings. Neither team was able to score again until Northland in the 8th inning. 

Brady Bickett (Rapid City, SD) got the start on the mound and pitched 4.2 innings (2 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO). He was replaced by Mason Peters (Columbia Falls, MT) for the final 2.2 innings (2 H, 0 R, BB, SO).

MCC got 2 hits each from Fuchinaga, Hegedus, and Kade Mosley (3B - Miles City, MT). Hegedus had 2 doubles and Mosley had one. 

Inside the Box Score

  • MCC had 7 hits and Northland had only 4. 
  • MCC committed 3 errors to just one for Northland. 
  • Pioneer batters struck out 4 times. Northland batters struck out 8 times. 
  • The Pioneers had 7 stolen bases and Northland one. 

 

Game 2 - Pioneers 4... Northland Tech 10

Northland got on the board first with 2 quick runs in the top of the 1st. MCC scored one run in the bottom of the inning after Brady Bickett led the inning off with a double and then scored on a Northland error after a ball hit to shortstop by Cooper Morlang (2B - Rapid City, SD). 

Northland tacked on 4 runs in the 2nd inning and 3 more in the 4th inning to take a commanding 9-1 lead. MCC struggled to get the bats going and had only 1 hit thru 4 innings but scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th without getting a hit. Kael Willis (DH - Kalispell, MT) reached base on an error with one out. Morlang, Luke Wilson (C - Calgary, Alberta), and Coleman Parry all drew walks with 2 outs to score Willis. Morlang and Wilson then scored on an error by the Northland pitcher and the Pioneers cut the lead to 9-4. 

Northland added one more run in the top of the 6th and the Pioneers were able to only get one hit the rest of the way to finish the game with only 2 hits. 

Taichi Fuchinaga got the start for MCC and pitched 1.2 innings (5 H, 6 ER, BB, SO) and gave way to Tyler Cutler (Helena, MT) for the next 2.1 innings (5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO). Lance Bratlien (Helena, MT) finished the final 3 innings (2 H, 1 R, 2 SO). 

Inside the Box Score

  • MCC got only 2 hits and Northland had 12. 
  • Northland committed 3 errors and the Pioneers had 2.
  • Pioneer batters struck out 8 times and walked 5. Northland batters struck out 5 times and walked 4.
  • MCC had 3 stolen bases and Northland had 0. 

The Pioneers are now 9-9 on the season and finish their spring break trip in Tucson with a doubleheader against Central Lakes-Brainerd Monday at 9:30 AM and 12:30 PM.