Moo bats power Fremont to 8-1 victory over Pioneers
Gering, Neb. – The Moo offense was on fire Wednesday night, piling up 16 hits on their way to an 8-1 win over Western Nebraska. The win keeps Fremont within half a game of the lead in the second-half Clark Division race, with Spearfish defeating Pierre in 10 innings, 7-3. Three games remaining in the Expedition League regular season.
Fremont (40-21 overall/20-10 second half) scored first in the second inning. Jack Simonsen led off with a single to left field. Austin Baskin followed with a double to right. With one out, Peyton Leeper drew a walk to load the bases. Then Ryne Hays hammered one to the wall in center, scoring Simonsen and Baskin to make it 2-0, Moo. In the third, Luke White hammered a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence for his fifth home run of the season to make it 3-0, Fremont.
Then in the fifth, another two-out rally would plate a run for Fremont. With two outs, Hays singled to left, then moved to second when Tyler Push singled to left. A wild pitch moved Hays to third and Push to second. Sears then won an 11-pitch at-bat, beating out an infield single to the right side, driving in Hays and boosting the Moo lead to 4-0.
The Moo put the finishing touches on the victory in the seventh. With one out, Peyton Leeper hammered a 1-0 pitch off the foul pole in right for his fourth home run of the year to boost the lead to 5-0. Then with two outs, Tyler Push worked a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a Dillon Sears single to right, pushing the lead to 6-0. After EJ Taylor was hit by a pitch, Luke White came to the plate. Taylor drew a wild pickoff throw from the catcher, allowing Sears to score while moving Taylor to second. White singled to right, scoring Taylor to make it 8-0. Western Nebraska (39-21/16-13) tallied a run in the bottom of the ninth but drew no closer.
Brody Sintek dominated in his start but went down after 4.2 innings pitched with an injury. Brendon Jones (2-0) came out of the bullpen and threw 2.1 innings of one-hit, shutout ball. James Raffauf threw a shutout eighth, while Riley Johnson allowed one run as he got the final three outs of the game.
White drove the Moo offense, going 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Sears also tallied three hits, going 3-for-6 with two RBI. Seven of the nine Moo starters got at least one hit.
Fremont and Western Nebraska will square off in the rubber game of the three-game series Thursday at 7:35 pm in Gering, Neb. The game can be heard on FremontMoo.com and Big Dog 98.9 FM and 1340 AM.




