Grabbing their second victory of the season the Larks overcame three deficits to defeat Thunder Bay.

Bismarck Larks fans should be counting their lucky stars. In both of the Larks wins in this young 2017 season, it has come down to the final out to determine the outcome of the ballgame.

In the Inaugural home opener it was Cullen Smith driving in Quinn Irey on an RBI single to walk things off in the bottom of the ninth. Tonight that “big play” was on the defensive end when Larks second baseman, Michael Pereznegron (University of Antelope Valley), made a back-handed stop and throw to retire Brendan Dougherty (Bradley University) sealing the 7-6 victory.

The Border Cats got off to a quick start in this ballgame thanks to back-to-back RBI hits from Jared McCunn (SIU-Edwardsville) and JQ Folena (Mayville State University), both coming with two outs.

However, the Larks wasted little to no time tying the game at 2 runs a piece. It was the bottom of the second inning when the Larks got to Border Cats starter Ricky Garcia (St. Cloud Technical and Community College) with back-to-back RBI hits of their own via the bats of Smith and Trever Leingang (Bismarck State College).

More runs came the next half-inning for the birds of Bismarck after Larks starter Andy Lalonde (South New Hampshire) put up his second consecutive shutout inning. In the bottom frame of the third inning, Irey singled home Pereznegron and Smith brought home Mason Pierzchalski giving the Larks a 4-2 lead.

The Border Cats didn’t travel south of the Canadian border for nothing though. After chasing Lalonde out of the ballgame, Thunder Bay scored three runs (1 ER) off Larks relief pitcher Carson Selin (Bethel University) to take a one run lead at 5-4.

But for the second time in the ballgame the Larks brought out the never-say-die mentality.

“This team’s going to fight,” said Field Manager Sean Repay.

That “fight” that Repay discussed was showcased when Wyatt Ulrich (St. John’s, Minnesota) battled against Border Cats relief pitcher Jesse Bogacz (Kenyon College) ultimately coming out on top with an RBI single up the middle to knot the ballgame back up at 5.

The Larks fought and we need to find the fight once more before grabbing the series opening win against Thunder Bay. After falling behind for a third time at 6-5, the strangest play to date in the Larks season occurred.

Noah Sadler and Pereznegron were standing on second and third respectively due to separate stolen bases when Bogacz’ wild pitch got behind Border Cats catcher Austin Ledin (Bethel University). Pereznegron took off from third creating a close play at the plate. Pereznegron slid in safely due to Ledin’s throw getting away from Bogacz allowing Sadler to race home as well.

The rather strange play at the plate allowed the Larks to take a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The bats went silent up until the ninth inning due to strong performances from both the Border Cats and Larks bullpens. It wasn’t until the top of the ninth when things got dicey.

A one-out double from Thunder Bay’s Folena placing runners on second and third required Selin to bear down while in the midst of his fifth inning of work. Selin came up huge for the Larks getting Lucas Lorenz (Northern State University) to foul out and Dougherty to ground out to the second baseman to end the game.

The winning pitcher in tonight’s contest was Carson Selin (1-0) and the losing pitcher in tonight’s contest was Jesse Bogacz (0-1).

The Larks look for their first sweep of the season as they take on the Border Cats starting at 7:35pm tomorrow night.

Limited tickets are still available for the second firework game of the season at larkstickets.com.

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The Bismarck Larks are apart of the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 170 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.