Casper, Wyoming- The Independence League Baseball Association’s leading Casper Spuds jumped on The Moo with five first inning runs and handed Fremont an 11-3 defeat at Mike Lansing Field, Tuesday night. With the loss, Fremont was mathematically eliminated from contention of the ILB first-half title, and dropped into fourth place in the league standings.
Casper sent eleven batters to the plate and scored five runs off Moo starter Justin Bowman. Elijah Reeves led off with a walk before Chase Burke singled. The next batter, Dylan Schlotterback hit a single, scoring Reeves, to make it 1-0. The next batter, Josh Phillips, hit a Bowman 1-2 pitch over the right-center field wall, extending the Spuds lead to 4-0. Dawson Baraconi drew a walk before Bowman struck out Matt Marsic for the first out of the inning. However, Chandler Stocking and Kenny Jackson drew back-to-back walks. Two batters later, Elijah Reeves walked, for the second time in the inning, bringing home Baraconi, to make it 5-0, Casper.
Fremont found the scoreboard in the top of the fifth inning. Bridger Coleman singled off Casper starter Justin Estrada. An errant pickoff attempt advanced Coleman to second. Miles Meadows reached on an error and Coleman scored on an Estrada wild pitch. Then, Hunter Snyder hit an rbi single, bringing in Meadows, to make it 5-2, midway through the contest.
However, The Moo could not keep the momentum as Casper answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Against reliever Luka Vukacevic, Chandler Stocking smacked a one-out single. Kenny Jackson singled, scoring Stocking all the way from first. An errant pickoff attempt advanced Jackson all the way to third. A passed ball, charged to catcher Bridger Coleman, scored Jackson, to make it 7-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, The Spuds added two more runs. With one out, Dylan Schlotterback singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After Josh Phillips drew a walk, a double steal put the Casper runners at second and third. Two batters later, Matt Marsic hit a two-rbi single, scoring Schlotterback and Phillips, making it 9-2, Casper.
The trend continued as The Spuds added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Against Fremont reliever Connor Petersen, Elijah Lyons hit a one-out single. Elijah Reeves doubled to put runners on second and third. Then, Pedro Martinez hit a two-run single, bringing in Lyons and Reeves, making it 11-2, Casper.
The Moo showed some life in the ninth. Against reliever Cooper Hack, Miles Meadows drew a two-out walk. Hunter Snyder singled, then Dean Reynolds grounded to shortstop, but reached on the misplayed ball. Dylan Brandenburg smacked an rbi single, bringing in Meadows. However, the comeback attempt was too tall of a hill to climb as Trey Brooks struck out swinging to end the game.
Casper (15-4) scored eleven runs off ten hits and committed three errors. Fremont (11-10) had three runs with six hits and committed two errors.
Spuds starter Justin Estada (3-0) earned the win. He pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs off five hits, struck out eleven, had one wild pitch and hit one batter. Hayden Mullins worked 1.1 innings and struck out one. Cooper Hack pitched 1.0 inning, striking out two and walking one.
Fremont starter Justin Bowman (0-1) took the loss. He pitched 3.0 innings giving up five runs off two hits, struck out three, walked six and hit two batters. Luke Vukacevic pitched 3.0 innings, giving up two earned runs off five hits, struck out three and walked one. Connor Petersen worked 2.0 innings giving up one run off three hits and hit one batter.
Offensively for Casper, Elijah Reeves was 1-for-5 with an rbi. Pedro Martinez was 1-for-2 and drove in two runs. Dylan Schlotterback was 2-for-5 with an rbi. Josh Phillips was 2-for-2 with a three-run home run. Matt Marsic was 1-for-5 and drove in two runs. Kenny Jackson was 1-for-3 with an rbi.
Fremont’s Hunter Snyder was 3-for-4 with an rbi and Dylan Brandenburg went 1-for-4 and drove in one run.
Casper and Fremont will wrap up their two game series Wednesday night at Mike Lansing Field. First pitch is 6:30 p.m. (MT) / 7:30 p.m. (CT).
