The Bismarck Larks swept a two game series in Duluth, Minnesota and will travel home after winning their last three in a row and winning four of their last five on the six-game road trip. Once again the Larks had solid starting pitching, late runs and clutch outs when they needed most at the end of the game. They won by a final score of 7-6 in a game that went down to the final out. The Larks have improved to 14-10 on the season.

What’s Next: The 14-10 Larks will be back home to face the 12-11 St. Cloud Rox for the first time in Bismarck, North Dakota. This two-game series will start Thursday June 20th, first pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.

How It Happened: The Larks jumped out of the gates fast after scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Zack Gregory and Wyatt Ulrich reached on back-to-back walks before the aggressive double steal worked to perfection to put two runners in scoring position for David Mendham. Mendham drove in both runs with a single to center field to help the Larks take a 2-0 lead.

Starting pitcher Dominic Arias got into some trouble in the first two innings. He allowed a two-out walk before a double down the left field line turned into a triple after Cole Taylor lost his footing down in the left field corner. That scored a run before a two-out, two-run home run took the lead for the Huskies after one inning. The Huskies scored one more unearned run off of Arias in the second after an infield single scored a runner from second after the ball trickled away from Jack Chernow up the middle. 4-2 Huskies after two.

The Larks then answered back in the top of the third inning with a few more runs of their own. Wyatt Ulrich walked to lead off the inning and stole second and third for his 12th and 13th stolen bases on the season. Mendham then walked before Brian Leonhardt singled to center field for the first run of the inning. Jack Chernow grounded out on a fielder’s choice that moved the runners up to second and third before Cole Taylor singled in Mendham at third to tie the game at 4-4. Jacob Rogers then walked to load the bases before Patrick Arndt picked up his first RBI of the season with an RBI ground out to help the Larks take a 5-4 lead.

Dominic Arias then settled into the game throwing the next four innings scoreless to walk away with six quality innings with just two earned runs and five strikeouts. After Arias, Josh Gray came in for his first time this season. Gray allowed a single before getting a fly out and a ground ball double play to end the inning and his first outing as a Lark.

The Larks were held scoreless from the fourth inning until the 8th inning when they added crucial insurance runs. Jack Chernow tripled for the third time this season to lead off the 8th inning before Jacob Rogers singled him in with the infield in to increase the lead to 6-4. Clay Woeste then pinch ran for Rogers at first before Woeste stole second and scored from there on an infield single from Alex Peterson. Woeste’s speed ended up being a huge factor in the game scoring the 7th run for the Larks to make the lead 7-4.

Bradley Collins came in from the bullpen for his fifth time in the last 10 days to pitch the 8th inning. After allowing a run across, Collins walked the bases loaded with two outs before getting a pop up to end the inning with the Larks still in the lead at 7-5. Evan Miller then came in for the 9th inning to shut the door. Miller eventually picked up his second save of the season but not without trouble. 3 consecutive singles with one out scored a run off of Miller before he put an end to the game. Miller struck out the next two batters he faced with the tying and winning runs at second and first respectively to give the Larks their 14th victory of the season. Miller and Collins combined for half of the total strikeouts in the game in the final two innings.

Inside The Boxscore: Wyatt Ulrich stole three bases to add to his team lead 14 stolen bases on the year. Ulrich owns second outright in the Northwoods League in that category three behind the leader Sam Baier who has 17 on the season. Ulrich had 8 stolen bases over the course of the six-game road trip. Ulrich scored two more times in the game to add to his league lead 32 runs scored this season. Ulrich also walked two more times in the game to up his tally to 23 on the season which is two behind the league lead in teammate Zack Gregory with 25. Ulrich walked 10 times on the road trip. Ulrich is tied atop the league in RBI with 20. Gregory was hit by a pitch for the 10th time this season which is atop the Northwoods League in that category. Jack Chernow has the outright lead in the league in triples with three after his triple in the 8th inning of the game. David Mendham drove in two more runs in the game to up his tally to nine on the road trip and nine total on the year in just six games.z