Fremont Mills comes back, edges East Mills

TABOR, Iowa - Fremont Mills got off to a sluggish start against rival East Mills Monday night at Fremont Mills High School, but it rallied through the middle innings to prevail 5-3. 

Brady Owen came in to close things out in the seventh, getting a strikeout, groundout and flyout to end the ball game to earn the save. 

East Mills (5-11) took a 3-0 lead in the third thanks to a couple of miscues defensively by Fremont Mills. The Wolverines got an RBI single from Davis McGrew and then an error put two men aboard with one out for designated hitter Ryan Sayers. 

Sayers hit a hard grounder that got through the legs of Knights shortstop Jake Malcolm allowing McGrew to score. On the same play, a throwing error got allowed a second run to score to extend the lead to three. 

Knights starter Kyler Owen overcame five errors by the defense and three balks to shut down the Wolverines the rest of the game. Owen finished with eight strikeouts and one earned run over six innings of work. 

Coming into the game, Fremont Mills had committed just 16 errors all season compared to East Mills 55. 

Fremont Mills (11-5) finally broke through against East Mills' southpaw Zach Thornburg, striking for three runs in the bottom of the fourth on just one hit. The Knights capitalized on an error, two walks and two wild pitches to tie the game at three. 

Fremont Mills added one more in the fifth when Brady Owen drew a walk, stole second and third and then scored on a fielding error. Thornburg worked out of the fifth with no further damage. Thornburg went five innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run, but issued seven walks. 

The Knights added one more in the sixth for good measure against Wolverines reliever Sylas Allen to take a two-run lead into the final frame where Brady Owen closed it out. 

The win improved Fremont Mills to 9-0 in Corner Conference play. 

Brady Owen and J.T. Mahaney combined for six walks, three stolen bases and two runs to lead the Knights. McGrew was 1-3 on the night with an RBI and a run scored for East Mills. 

Box Score:

East Mills (5-11, 3-6) 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, - 3, 3, 2   

Fremont Mills (11-5, 9-0) 0, 0 0, 3, 1, 1 - 5, 4, 5

WP: Kyler Owen (5-1)

LP: Zach Thornburg (1-4)

SV: Brady Owen (1)