Fremont, Nebraska – The Fremont Moo evened the Independence League Baseball Association Championship Series at one game apiece with a 9-8 victory in eleven innings over the Casper Spuds at Historic Moller Field, Thursday night. Connor Petersen’s two-out single scored Carter Sintek with the game winning run, sending the best-of-five series to Casper, tied at one.
Casper started the scoring in the top of the first. Facing Fremont starter Logan Anderson, Casper’s Elijah Reeves drew a leadoff walk. An errant pickoff attempt advanced Reeves to third base. Then, Dylan Schlotterback hit an rbi single, scoring Reeves, to make it a 1-0 Spuds lead.
Fremont responded in the bottom of the first. Josh Blount led off the inning when he was hit by a pitch from Casper starter Hayden Mullins. Two batters later, Cooper Fuchino reached on a fielder’s choice, forcing Blount out at second. Parker Mooney drew a walk. Then, a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third. Connor Petersen hit a popup to shallow center which Casper second baseman Wesley Flatt dropped, allowing Fuchino and Mooney to score, making it 2-1, Fremont.
The Spuds tied the game in the top of the second. Wesley Flatt led off with a double. Three batters later, Elijah Lyons singled, scoring Flatt, to tie the game at two.
Casper put its biggest inning of the night together in the top of the third. Dylan Schlotterback led off with a double. Then, an errant pickoff attempt by Anderson advanced Schlotterback to third. The next batter, Kenny Jackson, hit a two run home run to left field, putting The Spuds ahead, 4-2. Two batters later, Chase Burke singled. Then, Wesley Flatt drew a walk. Chandler Stocking reached on a fielder’s choice, forcing Flatt out at second. However, Matt Marsic hit a three-run home run to right field, making it a 7-2 Casper lead.
Fremont started to chip away at the five-run deficit in the bottom of the third inning. Josh Blount led off with a single. Then, Carter Sintek doubled, to put runners at second and third. The next batter, Cooper Fuchino, singled, scoring Blount, to make it 7-3. Then, Parker Mooney hit into a 4-6-3 ground out double play, however, Sintek scored, to make it 7-4.
The Moo scratched across another run in the bottom of the fourth. Isaac Bonner led off with a walk, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Three batters later, Josh Blount singled, scoring Bonner, to make it 7-5.
Fremont grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the fifth. Parker Mooney led off with a walk. Three batters later, Isaac Bonner tripled, scoring Mooney, to make it 7-6. Then, Miles Meadows doubled, plating Bonner, to tie the game at seven. Casper went to the bullpen and brought in Hamilton Moye to pitch. The first batter Moye faced was Fremont’s Trey Brooks, who singled, scoring Meadows, to put Fremont ahead, 8-7.
In the top of the eighth, Casper tied the game. Facing Fremont reliever Landon Mueller, Casper’s Wesley Flatt walked, then stole second. Chandler Stocking laid down a sacrifice bunt, advancing Flatt to third. Then, a wild pitch scored Flatt, to tie the score at eight.
The score remained tied through the ninth, plus, neither team would score in the tenth. In the top of the eleventh, Fremont reliever Alex Oliver worked around two Casper base hits, but stranded a pair of Spuds’ baserunners, moving the game to the bottom of the eleventh, still tied.
Facing Casper reliever Josh Phillips, Fremont’s Carter Sintek led off with a single. Then, Cooper Fuchino laid down a sacrifice bunt, advancing Sintek to second. The next batter, Dylan Brandenburg, grounded out to first, and Sintek moved to third with two outs. Then, Connor Petersen hit a Phillips 1-1 pitch into the right-center field gap, which dropped, scoring Sintek, giving Fremont the walk-off 9-8 win in eleven innings.
Fremont (34-20) scored nine runs off eleven hits and committed four errors. Casper (42-10) had eight runs off thirteen hits and had one error.
Moo starter Logan Anderson pitched 5.1 innings, giving up six earned runs off nine hits, struck out six, walked one, gave up two home runs and had one wild pitch. Landon Mueller pitched 4.2 innings, giving up one run off two hits, struck out seven, walked three and had two wild pitches. Alex Oliver (5-1) earned the win. He pitched 1.0 inning, giving up two hits and struck out one.
Casper starter Hayden Mullins pitched 4.2 innings, giving up six earned runs off seven hits, struck out three and walked four, had two wild pitches and hit one batter. Hamilton Moye pitched 2.0 innings, giving up two hits, struck out two and walked one.
Offensively for Fremont, Josh Blount was 2-for-5 with an rbi. Carter Sintek was 3-for-6. Connor Petersen was 1-for-4 with the game-winning rbi single in the eleventh. Isaac Bonner was 1-for-3 with an rbi. Miles Meadows was 1-for-5 and drove in one run. Trey Brooks was 2-for-5 and had one rbi.
For Casper, Elijah Reeves was 3-for-4. Dylan Schlotterback was 3-for-6 with an rbi. Kenny Jackson was 1-for-5 with a two-run home run. Matt Marsic was 2-for-5 with a three-run home run. Elijah Lyons was 1-for-2 with an rbi.
The best-of-five Championship Series now changes venues. Game three will be Friday night at Mike Lansing Field, in Casper, Wyoming. First pitch is 8:00 p.m. (CT) / 7:00 p.m. (MT).
