The Pioneers split a double header as the road team at Robbie Jones Field on Saturday. Avila sustained field damage due to wind, so the games were moved to MNU. In game one, the Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Dave Staton's double chased home
Jarid Renzelman and
Tim Purdin, who had singled and walked with two outs. Avila tied the game in the bottom of the third with 2 unearned runs, but the Pioneers answered back in the fifth. With one out, Renzelman singled and scored on a Purdin double. Dave Staton followed with another double to score Purdin, and
Kirk Nungester finished the 3-run inning with a run-scoring single. Avila answer with a big bottom of the fifth, scoring 4 runs on 4 hits to take a 6-5 lead. The Pioneers scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth to tie the game, but Avila came up with a 2-out RBI single to reclaim the lead in the bottom of the sixth. The Pioneers threatened in the seventh but fell 7-6.
Jarid Renzelman (2-4, R, 2B),
Tim Purdin (2-2. 2 R, 2B, RBI, 2 BB), and Dave Staton (2-3, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB) had multi-hit games for the Pioneers.
In game two, the Pioneer offense exploded in the 5th to take control of the game. With the score tied at three,
Kyle Segraves led off with a bunt single.
Darrell Huffman followed with a walk. The Pioneers then rattled off a single, double, walk, double, single, walk, walk, and single to score 8 runs to take an 11-3 lead. Avila managed 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Pioneers took the game 11-5.
Brian Rich allowed 5 runs on 8 hits in 4+ innings to get the victory.
Kyle Segraves (2-3, 3 R, 2 BB, SB),
Jarid Renzelman (2-4, R, 2 RBI, BB),
Josh Greer (2-4, R, 2B, RBI), and
Cody Fuqua (3-3, R, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 SB) had multi-hit games.
The Pioneers are 13-17 (6-8 HAAC). The next double header is Tuesday the 6th at home vs. Evangel (10-19, 5-9) at 1:00 PM.
