The relentless offense of the Fremont Moo scored early and often in cruising to a 14-3 victory Wednesday night at historic Moller Field over the Sioux Falls Sunfish. Not only did the Moo pile up a season-high 14 runs, but they also totaled a season-high 13 hits. Eight of the nine Fremont starters had at least one hit.
After Sioux Falls (0-2) tallied a first inning run, the Moo responded with a run in the bottom of the first. Tyler Push reached on an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a groundout by E.J. Taylor, then scored on Brock Reller’s sacrifice fly. The Sunfish took the lead in the top of the second with two runs, but Fremont answered with three in the bottom of the second and never looked back. Ryan Koski led off the inning with a double to right. Jackson Meier’s groundout to second moved Koski to third. Drew Mize followed with a single up the middle, scoring Koski to pull the Moo to within one. After Tyler Mata-Lloyd drew a walk, Push reached on an infield single. A fielder’s choice grounder to short by Derian Morphew drove in Mize to tie the game. Then with Taylor at the plate, runners at first and third and two outs, the Moo executed a double steal, with Morphew inducing a rundown between first and second while Mata-Lloyd stole home to give Fremont a 4-3 lead.
The Moo extended their lead in the bottom of the 4th. Mize led off the inning by reaching on an error, then stole second and scored on Mata-Lloyd’s single through the right side. Then with two outs, Morphew singled up the middle, moved to second on Taylor’s walk, then scored when Reller reached on an error to push the lead to 6-3.
Fremont (3-1) kept pouring it on from there. A two-run double by Reller in the sixth highlighted a three-run frame, while five more runs in the eighth pushed the lead to 11.
Meanwhile, the Moo bullpen was strong. Jayden Payne (1-0), Chase Reynolds and Luke Ballard threw 6.2 combined innings of three-hit, shutout ball, walking just two while striking out 10. Offensively, Push drove Fremont by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Reller drove in four runs and was 2-for-4 with a double. Koski was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles as well. The Moo added to their league-leading total of stolen bases, swiping six bases for the game to push their total to 18 in just four games.
Fremont looks to polish off the series sweep of Sioux Falls Thursday night at historic Moller Field in Fremont. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be heard on FremontMoo.com and Big Dog 98.9 FM and 1340 AM in Fremont.
