Moo Fights for 9-8 Win Against Sodbusters; Clinch Series

FREMONT – The Moo rode a six-run seventh inning and hung on to defeat the Sodbusters, 9-8, Wednesday night at Duncan Field. The win kept Fremont in first place in the Clark Division by half a game and clinched the season series for the Moo, 10-7, with one game to go.
Listen to the game recap:

Fremont scored first for just the second time in the seven games of the series. With one out, Jack Simonsen singled to center. Ronnie McBride singled to left, moving Simonsen to second. McBride advanced to third and Simonsen moved to second on a wild pitch. Luke White was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then Brock Reller hit a ground ball to second. As the throw went to second, first Simonsen then McBride scored to give the Moo a 2-0 lead.
Hastings responded in the bottom of the first. Casey Burnham reached on an error. Efry Cervantes ripped a double to left, moving Burnham to third. Two batters later, Grant Schmidt reached on an infield single, loading the bases. Tayten Tredeway hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Burnham. Ryan McDonald then hit a grounder to shortstop that was mishandled, scoring Cervantes to tie the game at two.
The pitchers took over from there, with neither team scoring through the next five innings. Hilton Mehrman allowed just four hits through the next four innings, while Hastings pitcher Reese Dutton was even tougher, allowing just two hits in five innings. But the Moo jumped on Dutton in the sixth. Nick Emanuel lined a single to right, then moved to second on Owen Bischoff’s grounder to second. Cooper Morrison legged out a double, moving Emanuel to third. An intentional walk to Simonsen loaded the bases for McBride, who yanked a two-run double down the left field line to give the Moo a 4-2 lead. White followed with a two-run single, scoring Simonsen and McBride. Reller crushed a triple to right, scoring White, and then Reller scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-2, Moo.
Hastings chipped into the deficit in the next two innings, scoring a run in the seventh and two in the eighth to cut the Fremont lead to 8-6. The Moo pushed across a run in the ninth to take a three-run lead to the bottom of the ninth, but after three walks loaded the bases, Griffin Everitt hit a two-run single to pull Hastings to within one. With runners on the corners and one out, Tre Turner retired the last two to finish the victory for the Moo.
Reller drove the Moo offense, hitting 2-for-5 with four RBI and and a triple. McBride was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Meanwhile, Mehrmann pitched seven solid innings, scattering 11 hits while allowing just three earned runs and no walks while striking out three.
The eight-game series between the top two teams in the Clark Division concludes Thursday night at historic Moller Field (750 S. Broad Street, Fremont, Neb.), with first pitch at 7:05 pm. The game can be heard on FremontMoo.com, and begins the Moo’s final homestand of the year, a seven-game homestand over eight days.