Chandler Young couldn’t get it going in his second start of the season, as his unfavorable pitching killed the Pios drive early to lose by a final of 9-3.
The only big hits that came from the Pioneers offense was an RBI single from centerfielder Tyler Baca, and a two-RBI double off the bat of Jaxon Hotta. Other than that, it was smooth sailing for the Fremont Moo pitching staff.
Right off the bat Fremont showed once again why they have a lineup that can win the 2020 Expedition League Championship. The Moo offense scored at least one run in every inning that the lefty Young appeared in. They scored two in the first, three in the second, and one in the third and fourth innings. Those runs were highlighted not by home runs, but by still pretty good pieces of hitting. Hayden Klemenock got an RBI single in the first after Dillon Sears scored on a wild pitch to put the Moo up 2-0 in the 1st. The three run second inning saw RBI singles from the Moo’s big boppers in Cooper Morrison and Ronnie McBride. Finally, the third and fourth inning runs were manufactured through sacrifices with a Chaney Dodge RBI groundout and Ronnie McBride fly out. Young finished his night going four innings allowing seven runs, raising his ERA on the year to 5.87.
Cameron Skinner toed the rubber for the Pioneers in the fifth, and after throwing the first scoreless inning of the night for Western, he allowed Fremont’s eighth run to cross home plate in the sixth. Losing command a little bit, Skinner threw a wild pitch with Jett Weber at third to allow the speedy second baseman to score easily.
Fremont Moo starting pitcher, Brett Erwin, had it rolling for the entire game, until the Pios found some life in the seventh. Thomas Gavello, who went 2-4 with two singles, got a one out single up the middle to begin the late inning rally. Trevor Mattson and Luis Alcantara later found their way on base via an error and a walk to bring switch hitting Tyler Baca into the lefty box with the bases loaded and two outs. Baca was able to squeeze the baseball right in the 5-6 hole to score Gavello from third and move everybody up one base. Tyler Baca was the last batter that Erwin faced, as Fremont went to the big 6’5’’, 220 pound righty out of Dakota County Tech in Ben Simonsen to try and get his club out of a jam. The first batter he faced though in Jaxon Hotta lined a double down the right field line scoring two and cutting the Moo lead to five, 8-3. Brett Erwin’s final statline came out to be 6.2 innings of work, while allowing three runs and punching out 11.
The Pioneer bats though couldn’t muster anymore offensive outbursts after that big seventh inning. They were shutout in the eighth by Simonsen, and didn’t score in the ninth being down 9-3 due to Western Nebraska pitcher Wellington Mariano throwing a wild pitch with Hayden Klemenock on third allowing him to score with ease in the bottom half of the seventh. Tyler Seebaum, who is the exact opposite in size compared to Ben Simonsen standing 5’7’’ and weighing 150 pounds was the one who slammed the door on the bump in the ninth in just his second appearance of the year.
For tomorrow, Pios Head Coach Ryan Sires will most likely go with lengthy righty in Carson Cody for his first start of the year, as they will rely on the Biola University freshman to help them salvage their second to last road series of the season.
