Pioneers Split with Royals

Pioneers Split with Royals- Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 3/1/24

Pioneer Baseball kicked off the first weekend in March by hosting Ecclesia College for a four-game series scheduled to take place today and tomorrow.  After today's doubleheader, the Pioneers stayed at the .500 mark for the season as they split with the visiting Royals one game a piece. CRC sits 5-5 on the year.  

Game One: 

Crowley's Ridge- 3

Ecclesia College- 6

Pioneer Park- In game one, designated hitter Josh Schmitt had the honor of bringing in the first run of the series as the lefty grounded out to second in the bottom of the first, scoring Trey Drake. The Pioneer lead wouldn't last thanks to a quick retaliation in the top of the second as the Ecclesian offense scored four runs off a string of four hits giving them enough space to reclaim the lead and maintain it for the remainder of the contest. Adonis Thomas brought the contest within two as the Jonesboro, Arkansas native scored Parker Gordan on a fielder's choice but painfully this would be as close as the contest would get. The Royals pushed two more runs across in the 6th and 7th innings before Kyle Russell brought in the final run for the Pioneers in CRC's last stand with an RBI single to center field scoring pinch runner Kade Lindgren. The Pioneers had the bases loaded three separate times in the game but were unable to get any runners to the plate as they left twelve Pioneers stranded in the 6-3 loss. CRC scored their three runs off seven hits with Trey Drake and Kyle Russell leading the team with two hits each. Jack Roney took his second loss of the season as the RHP tossed all 7.0 innings, where he allowed 6 runs on 10 hits, walking one and striking out three. 

Game Two:

Crowley's Ridge- 7

Ecclesia College- 6

Pioneer Park- CRC baseball bounced back in game two as Chance Arender took the molehill and grabbed his first win of the season with the Pioneers skimming past the Royals with a 7-6 victory. Ecclesia College showed their defiance and challenged the Pioneers throughout the game as the Royals tied the contest on two separate occasions, but ultimately a huge fourth-inning push from CRC would give the Pioneers the edge they needed to claim the victory. Andrew Brown and James Wilson brought in the first runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning, giving CRC the 2-0 lead. The Royals tied the game the following inning but with Bryaln Honeycutt's RBI single in the bottom half of the second, the lead remained in favor of CRC. The Royals made things even for the second time with one run on the fourth but CRC immediately responded with four runs off five hits scoring their runs off Adonis Thomas' single to left field and Josh Schmitt's two-run rocket homer to right field. Now leading 7-3, the Pioneers fended off one last charge from the Royals for in the 6th inning Ecclesia College scored three runs off a deep double to left center, cutting the Pioneer lead to one. After heaving 5.2 innings of work, Arender was relieved by RHP Mike Sharp, and thanks to Sharp's dominant performance over the 1.1 innings of work, the Pioneers maintained their one-point lead with Sharp collecting his first save of the season. James Wilson led the Pioneers going 3-3 from the box with one RBI. Adonis Thomas and Josh Schmitt each added two hits and two RBIs in the win. 

Up Next: CRC Baseball will wrap up their series with a final doubleheader scheduled for game three's opening pitch to be at noon tomorrow at Pioneer Park. #GOPIONEERS