Game 1 - Pioneers 5... Central Lakes-Brainerd 4 (8 Innings)
CF Jake Lacey (Gillette, WY) hit an inside the park game winning home run in the bottom of the 8th as the Pioneers squeaked out a 5-4 win over Central Lakes-Brainerd in the 1st game of week long spring break trip in Tucson, Arizona. Lacey had a huge day at the plate going 3-5 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. He had a double, triple, and a home run for his 3 hits.
3B Tim Holyk (Nanaimo, BC) went 2-4 to keep his hot bat alive and 2B Tyler Tenney (Helena, MT) was 2-3 including a double as the Pioneer collected 11 hits in the morning game. 1B Kaleb Breeze (West Valley City, UT), DH Grant Gabbert (Thorton, CO), RF Ian Krump (Rapid City, SD), and C Karter Yancey (St. Anthony, ID) provided the other hits for MCC.
Jaeden Jordahl (Billings, MT) and Krump had the other RBI's. CLB got on the board 1st with 3 runs in the 2nd inning and the Pioneers closed the gap to 3-2 in bottom of the 2nd when Jordahl hit a sacrifice fly scoring Tenney and Lacey doubled in a run after that. Brainerd stretched the lead to 4-2 in the 3rd with another run before the Pioneers tied it in the bottom of the 4th. Yancey singled and Ryota Kusumoto (Cairns QLD, Australia) came in to pinch run and Lacey drove him in with a triple to left field. Lacey then scored on a single by Krump to tie the game at 4-4. The scored stayed that way until Lacey's heroics in the 8th.
Cy Miller (Helena, MT) got the start on the mound for MCC and went 4.0 innings, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. He gave way to Noah Aliff (Centralia, WA) who pitched the 5th inning and walked 2, striking out one, and getting out of the inning without a hit or run. Jeremy Gee (Bringham City, UT) went the final 3.0 innings allowing only a hit and striking out 3.
Game 2 - Pioneers 5... Riverland CC 7
The Riverland CC pitching staff held the MCC Pioneer bats at bay until the 7th inning and Blue Devils jumped out to a 7-0 lead and held on for a 7-5 win Saturday afternoon in Tucson. Riverland's starting pitcher struck out 15 Pioneers and held MCC to just one hit over 6 innings building the 7-0 bulge.
In the 6th inning, CF Jake Lacey got the first hit of the game on a home run to left field. The Pioneers then loaded the bases in the 7th with 2 outs when LF Grant Gabbert doubled to left field and was moved to 3rd on SS Jaeden Jordahl's single to centerfield. Lacey was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and 3B Tim Holyk gave the Pioneers life with a grand slam that cut the Riverland lead to 7-5. Ian Krump then struck out swinging to end the game. All 4of the Pioneer hits happened in the final 2 innings.
Bridger Erickson (St. Anthony, ID) got the start for MCC and went 3.1 innings of 6 hit baseball. He gave up 6 runs and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts. Josh Banderob (Great Falls, MT) filled in for 1.2 innings of solid relief giving up 1 run on 2 hits and a strikeout. Wyatt Searcy (Littleton, CO) walked 2 in his inning of work and struck out 1 in the hitless inning.
The Pioneers will play another doubleheader tomorrow as they will face Central Lakes again at 9:00 AM and Northland CC at 12:00.