The Bismarck Larks fell to the Mankato Moondogs by a score of 16-3 on Monday evening to fall to 9-5 on the season. This is the first time the Larks have lost twice in a row all season.

What’s Next: The Larks will now travel back home to begin a four-game series that includes a doubleheader with the Rochester Honkers starting on Tuesday night at 7:05pm.

How It Happened: The Larks scored the first runs in the ballgame in the fourth inning. Brody Tanksley and Clay Woeste hit back-to-back singles with one out before Jack Chernow singled in the first run of the game to pick up his ninth hit in the last three games. Woeste and Chernow then executed a double steal to put Woeste in double digits in that category before Jacob Rogers hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field which scored Woeste for the second run of the game.

The Moondogs answered right back in the bottom half of the inning by scoring three off of starting pitcher Brian Leonhardt. Sky-lar Culver and Tanner Craig hit back-to-back doubles with one out to get the Moondogs on the board. Then, Leonhardt allowed three more hits in a row, two singles and a double which scored two more runs. With second and third and just one out, Leonhardt then got a ground ball to third that caught the runner in a rundown for the second out of the inning before striking out the final batter in the inning to end his outing.

In the sixth inning, the Moondogs added to their lead with four more runs. With first and second and one out, Dayton Dooney hit a bloop single to left field which hopped over Alex Peterson’s head for a double and scored two runs to make it 5-2. Culver then singled in a run before the Larks walked in the seventh run with the bases loaded to make it 7-2.

Alex Peterson got one back in the top of the 8th inning with a lead off solo shot to left field to make it 7-3 but the Moondogs then poured it on. The Larks gave up the most amount of runs in one inning this season with nine which put the game out of reach for a final score of 16-3.

Inside The Boxscore: This is just the second time this season the Larks have given up more than eight runs in a game. The Larks still lead the league in these offensive categories: runs (118), doubles (27), tied for the lead in triples (5), RBI (99), hit by pitches (24), on-base percentage (.419), and OPS (.810). The Larks have outscored their opponents 118-95. Have outscored teams in their nine wins by a total of 111-49. In their five losses have been outscored by a total of 46-7.