Nate Rohr contributed this report.
FREMONT – A furious rally by the Fremont Moo fell just short as Western Nebraska held off the Moo, 12-9, Thursday night at Moller Field.
Listen to the game recap:
The Pioneers led 9-0 thru 4.5 innings and 11-2 thru 5.5 before Fremont rallied to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. With a run already in and two on and two out, Ronnie McBride laced a line drive to center field that was caught for the final out of the game.
Western Nebraska took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. With one out, Jason Luke doubled to left, moved to third on a single to right by Spencer Marenco, then scored on Blaine Ray’s groundout to shortstop. The Pioneers tacked on two more in the fourth when Sam Hillyer homered to left. Then in the fifth, the Pioneers parlayed two walks and three hit by pitches into six runs, the inning capped by a three-run home run by Hillyer, his second home run of the game.
Fremont pushed across a pair of runs in the fifth. With one out, Nick Emanuel was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, McBride ripped a double to center, scoring Emanuel. McBride moved to third on the throw home, then scored on a wild pitch to cut the Pioneers’ lead to 9-2. Western Nebraska scored a pair of runs in the sixth to rebuild the lead to 11-2, but in the bottom of the sixth, Fremont tallied a run when Taylor Howell doubled off the chain-link monster in left, then scored on Luke Boynton’s single.
In the seventh, the Pioneers scored a run to boost the lead to 12-3. The Moo offense cranked it up in the bottom of the seventh, though. Owen Bischoff reached on an error by the second baseman, then Dillon Sears was hit by a pitch. A walk to McBride loaded the bases, then Kanin Dodge was hit by a pitch to drive in Bischoff. Brock Reller reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Sears, and Howell again doubled to left to drive in McBride and cut the Pioneers’ lead to 12-6. Then in the eighth, Sears drew a two-out walk ahead of McBride, who hammered his first home run of the year over the left-field fence to cut it to 12-8.
In the ninth, Luke White led off with a double to left. He moved to third on Cooper Morrison’s single, then scored on Bischoff’s sacrifice fly to left. Morrison was erased on a fielder’s choice hit into by Nick Emanuel, whose pinch runner Hayden Klemenok moved to second when Sears drew a walk. That brought McBride to the plate representing the tying run before his line out to center ended the game.
McBride paced the Moo offense, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBI. Howell also added two doubles and an RBI. The Moo closes its five-game homestand Friday night at 7:05 against Western Nebraska at historic Moller Field (750 S. Broad Street, Fremont, Neb.). Tonight’s game will be broadcast on Big Dog 98.9 & 1340, and streamed online.
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