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Pioneers Sweep Lake Region; Set to Host Region XIII Playoffs

Pioneers Sweep Lake Region; Set to Host Region XIII Playoffs
Posted: May 05, 2024

Game 1 - Pioneers 8... Lake Region State 7

The top seeded Pioneers found themselves in a fist fight on Saturday afternoon against the last place Royals. Lake Region scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st inning and led the game all the way to the bottom of the 8th. The Pioneers took advantage of 2 passed balls and a big error to take their first lead of the game with one out in the 8th. 

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the 1st, Jace Notbohm (DH - Miles City, MT) singled and scored on a double by Kade Mosley (3B - Miles City, MT). Mosley advanced to 3rd on a Lake Region error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Coleman Parry (American Fork, UT). 

Lake Region added a run in the top of the 4th inning to lead 4-2 but Parry cut the lead to one with his 16th home run of the season. Lake Region scored another in the 5th inning and the Pioneers answered again with a run in the bottom of the 5th to cut the Royals lead to 5-4. Lance Bratlien (RF - Helena, MT) was hit by a pitch and Brady Bickett (CF - Rapid City, SD) singled on a bunt. Notbohm walked to load the bases and Mosley hit a sacrifice fly RBI. 

LRSC scored 2 runs in the 6th inning and had sights on an upset of the top seeded Pioneers taking a 7-4 lead. MCC answered with 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Back to back singles from Jaden Salazar (LF - Chicago, IL) and Jessen West (SS - Billings, MT) led to a bunt single from Taichi Fujinaga (2B - Honolulu, HI) in which the Royals mishandled leading to runs from Salazar and West. 

The score stayed 7-6 until the bottom of the 8th. Chandler Smith (C - Miles City, MT) singled and was replaced by courtesy runner Dyson Kinnaman (Belgrade, MT). Kinnaman moved to 2nd on a passed ball and scored on a throwing error after a bunt single from Bickett. Bickett ended up on 3rd base on that same throwing error and then scored the go ahead run on a passed ball. 

Jace Notbohm came in to pitch the 9th inning and closed the door on the Royals upset aspirations. Trae Awbery (Miles City, MT) got the start on the mound and pitched 4.2 innings (6 H, 5 R, 5 BB, 8 SO) before giving way to Tyler Cutler (Helena, MT) for the next 1.1 innings (H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 SO). Sam Hall (Eureka, MT) pitched the next 2 innings in perfect fashion (3 SO).

Inside the Box Score

  • Pioneer pitchers struck out an amazing 17 batters but gave up 8 walks. 
  • Royal pitchers struck out 3 batters and walked 3.
  • Lake Region had the only stolen base of the game. 
  • LRSC committed 4 erros and MCC had 1.
  • The Pioneers had 10 hits and the Royals had 7.
  • Bickett and Parry each had 2 hits for the Pioneers. 

 

Game 2 - Pioneers 11... Lake Region State 1 (5 Innings)

The Pioneers looked much more like their conference champion self by scoring 8 runs in the bottom of the 5th and holding the Royals to just one hit in a series clinching 11-1 win in 5 innings. 

Max Holden (Kalispell, MT) and Mayson Shively (Three Forks, MT) combined on a 1-hitter in the 5 inning game. Holden (4 IP, H, R, 3 BB, 3 SO) got the win and Shively (IP, 2 SO) pitched a perfect 5th inning. 

MCC got on the board in the bottom of the 1st after Brady Bickett walked and eventually scored on a passed ball. Lake Region tied the game in the top of the 2nd inning and the Pioneers took the lead for good with 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Jaden Salazar started the inning with a walk and then stole 2nd. With 2 outs, Lance Bratlien smacked a RBI double and scored on a single from Chandler Smith. 

The Pioneers closed the game with 8 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning. Bratlien led things off with a single and Smith walked. Bickett put down a perfect bunt single to load the bases. Jace Notbohm came up big with a bases clearing double to push the score to 6-1. Kade Mosley followed that with a RBI double of his own. Coleman Parry singled to put runners on the corners setting up a 3-run home run from Jaden Salazar and a 10-1 lead. Taichi Fujinaga doubled and moved to 3rd on a passed ball before Bratlien walked. Chandler Smith then smacked a RBI single to end the game. 

The Pioneers move to 37-12 on the season and will host the Region XIII Playoffs on May 10-11 at Connors Stadium. There are 4 games on Friday and 2 games on Saturday with an if necessary game on Sunday. MCC plays at 12:00 on Saturday afternoon against the winner of the Williston State/Dawson series. 

Inside the Box Score

  • The Pioneers had 10 hits.
  • Lake Region State had 2 errors. 
  • MCC had 3 stolen bases. 
  • Bratlien and Smith each had 2 hits.