FREMONT – The Moo moved to the brink of clinching the Clark Division championship with a 10-5 win over Western Nebraska Thursday night at Moller Field. The win, coupled with Hastings’ 6-3 loss to Souris Valley, increased Fremont’s lead in the Clark to five games with six games remaining for both teams. The Moo swept the Pioneers and went 6-1 in a seven-game homestand that closed the Moo’s home schedule in the regular season.
Listen to the game recap:
Western Nebraska scored three in the top of the first, but Fremont answered immediately in the bottom of the first. Dillon Sears led off the inning with a single up the middle, then moved to second on an error on a ball hit by Cooper Morrison. Ronnie McBride bunted for a hit, then moved to second and Sears scored when Western Nebraska pitcher Carson Cody threw wildly toward first. Morrison moved to third on the play, then scored when Jack Simonsen grounded out to second. One batter later, McBride scored on a groundout to short by Hayden Klemenok, tying the game at three.
The Moo took the lead in the bottom of the third. McBride led off the inning with a single to left, then stole second. Jack Simonsen was hit by a pitch, putting two on with none out. Two batters later, Chaney Dodge hit a chopper that was booted first by the third baseman, then the shortstop, allowing Dodge to reach and McBride to score to give Fremont the lead. Simonsen moved to third on the play. Two batters later, Jaxson Simmerman hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Simonsen to make it 5-3 Moo.
Fremont added a run in the sixth. Kaden Hendrix, who until this week was the in-stadium DJ at Moller Field, led off the inning with a single to left. He moved to third when Morrison doubled to left, then scored on McBride’s sacrifice fly to center. The Moo tallied another run in the seventh. Klemenok was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on Dodge’s groundout to second, then scored on Matt Abdelnour’s single to center field.
After the Pioneers scored two in the top of the eight, Fremont roared back with three in the bottom of the eighth. Sears led off with a single to right, then Morrison was hit by a pitch. McBride singled to right to score Sears and moved Morrison to third while advancing to second on throw. Simonsen hit a two-run single to center, driving in Morrison and McBride to push the lead to five.
Isaac Van Dyke worked through a bumpy first, allowing just one hit and no more runs over his last four innings of work. He handed it off to the bullpen, which allowed just two runs in four innings. Brendon Jones, Tre Turner and Brett Sears all worked 1-2-3 innings for the Moo.
McBride paced the Fremont offense, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Simonsen was 1-for-4 with three RBI, while Sears was 2-for-5 in the leadoff spot.
Fremont hits the road for its regular-season-ending six-game roadtrip Friday at Western Nebraska, with first pitch at 7:35 pm. The game can be heard on Big Dog 98.9 FM and 1340 AM, and streaming online.
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