Pioneer tops North Miami in sectional semi

Klepinger gets 3 hits at plate, save on mound

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Hunter Klepinger had a single, two doubles and two RBIs at the plate, and he also pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the save to lift the Pioneer baseball team to a 4-1 win over North Miami in a Class 1A, Sectional 52 semifinal at Caston Saturday.

Caleb Sweet added two hits and an RBI at the plate, and he also got the win on the mound. Sweet allowed five hits and one run over four innings while walking two and fanning six.

Owen Mersch, Gavin Clem, Tyler Gaumer, Daniel Reyes, Brayden Erickson and Wyatt Zeider added one hit each.

Parker Johnson and Braden Burns had two hits each for North Miami.

Pioneer advanced to their first sectional final since 2016, when they won the only sectional title in school history.

Pioneer will play Southwood in the sectional final. The top-ranked Knights beat Caston 9-1 in Saturday’s first semifinal.

Game time was delayed by five hours in order to prepare the field after Friday’s rains.

Pioneer 4, North Miami 1

Pioneer 002 000 2 – 4 9 2

North Miami 000 100 0 – 1 6 2

WP – Caleb Sweet (4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K)

LP – Floor (6 ⅔ IP, 11 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 11 K)

S – Hunter Klepinger (3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K)

2B – Hunter Klepinger 2 (PIO), Caleb Sweet (PIO), Johnson (NM), Burns (NM)