The Bismarck Larks suffered their first loss of the season by a score of 15-2 in the first game of the series against the Willmar Stingers. Brian Leonhardt was the player of the game for the third straight day after he got his first start on the mound for the Larks and was fantastic.

What’s Next: The Bismarck Larks face off again against the Willmar Stingers on June 4 at 7:05 for the second game of the series. The Larks will hope to pick up where they left off and follow their past performance against Eau Claire and St.Cloud to tie up the home series. Tickets are still available to see the Larks battle back, get yours here: https://northwoodsleague.com/bismarck-larks/single-game-tickets/.

How it Happened: The Stingers got on the board in the top of the first inning after the leadoff batter reached on an error and moved to second on a balk. Brian Leonhardt then struck out the number two and three batters of the Stingers lineup before the clean up batter Cal Elvers hit an RBI infield single that scored the first run of the ballgame. Leonhardt then struck out the next batter to complete the inning with an unearned run and three strikeouts.

The Larks offense went missing in the first five innings after Garret Rukes started off perfect through 4.2 innings and carried a no-hitter into the sixth. For the Larks, Brian Leonhardt followed up his powerful weekend at the dish with an impressive debut on the hill which included 10 punchouts in five innings of work and one unearned run. Leonhardt finished the outing as strong as he started it by striking out the side for the second time on the night.

The Larks then gave the ball to Bradley Collins who had a tough go of things in his Larks debut after allowing eight of the nine batters he faced to reach in the huge eighth-run 6th inning that lead to the Stinger victory.

Austin Gohl threw 3.2 innings to finish off the game for the Larks which included five strikeouts and four earned runs. In the sixth inning, Zack Gregory had an RBI single before Wyatt Ulrich picked up his league leading 14th RBI on the season but those were the only two runs the Larks scored on the night. The Larks finally cooled down from their extremely hot start but hope to rebound tomorrow night against the Stingers in the second game of this four-game series between the teams tied at the top of the Great Lakes West division. Tomorrow night’s game is set for a 7:05pm first pitch.