POCATELLO — Being on the field at all was a win for the Pocatello Runnin' Rebels on Friday.

A doubleheader sweep to start the season was even better.

"I didn't think that this day was ever going to come," Runnin' Rebels coach Nick Sorrell said. "It felt like it was going to be forever. We started tryouts three weeks ago, now all of a sudden it's here, and we were ready to go."

In the first local games since the coronavirus pandemic canceled high school seasons back in March, the Runnin' Rebels mixed big innings with strong pitching and defense to take two from Cheyenne at Halliwell Park, 7-1 and 9-1.

Placards on social distancing were stapled to the bleachers, but the atmosphere at Halliwell — especially once the first pitch was thrown — quickly reverted back to baseball as normal.

"We've done it before, and it's still the same game of baseball," Pocatello catcher Dylan Jester said. "We just went out and played ball. ... It was just a good feeling to know that this wasn't a scrimmage, it was the first pitch of a real game. It's not something I can explain. It was just like, wow, it's here. It's going again. It almost brought tears to all of our eyes."

Pocatello starter Trei Hough struck out the first two batters to face him in the opening game, but back-to-back doubles — exacerbated by bad routes by Pocatello outfielders — gave Cheyenne a 1-0 lead.

The Runnin' Rebels came back in the bottom of the first, as Hough tripled with two outs to score Payton Cleaves and Dalton Jones followed with a run-scoring single for a 2-1 lead.

"Once we got those first three outs and then Payton led off with a hit, we were like, man, it's go time," Jester said. "He did the leadoff role, and we kind of followed him."

The score stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, as Hough and Cheyenne starter Bradley Feezer locked into a pitcher's duel. Hough allowed just two baserunners, on a hit-by-pitch and a single, from the second through the fifth innings, and Feezer did him one better by giving up just a single to Jaxon Christensen over the same frames.

Seth Nate relieved Hough and threw a scoreless top of the sixth for Pocatello before the Runnin' Rebels pulled away in the bottom of the frame.

Dylan Jester tripled to lead off the inning and had to stay at third as Nate grounded out to a drawn-in infield.

Hough was intentionally walked to set up the double play with runners on first and third with one out, but Jones lifted a sac fly to center to score an important insurance run — and then the floodgates opened.

Pinch-hitter Easton Eddie doubled home another run and Braxton Wilhelm reached on an error. Kyler Knowles, Easton Durham and Cleaves followed with singles, making the score 7-1 before Jester popped out to the first baseman to end the inning.

Nate threw a perfect seventh, striking out the last two hitters to end it.

"Everybody clutched up and had some great hits," Sorrell said. "It was actually a real true team effort."

The second game also looked like a low-scoring affair early. Cleaves and Jester both scored on errors to give Pocatello a 2-0 lead in the first, and Cheyenne responded with a run in the third — and could have had more, but Pocatello starter Christensen got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the inning.

That score held up until the bottom of the fourth, when the Runnin' Rebels, just as they had in the first game, batted around to put the game out of reach.

Jones, Eddie, Ethan Wolfenbarger, Durham and Cleaves were part of a parade of five singles in six batters that started the inning, scored four runs and chased the Cheyenne starter.

Hough added a sac fly against reliever Ben Bohlmann and Caden McCurdy, pinch-hitting for Eddie, had the final word with a two-run double just inside the third-base line to make it 9-1.

"When we put the ball in play, we put pressure on their defense," Sorrell said. "Especially early in the year, we knew it was going to be tight, because I knew our timing was going to be off hitting-wise. So, we (wanted) to stay in tight games, make them make mistakes, and then capitalize on those mistakes, which we did today."

Jones, who relieved Christensen after the fourth, threw two clean innings to end it, stranding runners on first and third by getting a groundout to end the game.

And just like that, baseball was back in Pocatello.

"It means the world, not only to me, but to my team," Jester said. "We've played hard before in the past, but it was just a different sense of excitement today. I don't see it changing anytime soon."