The Bismarck Larks returned home for the series finale of a home-and-home series with the Minot Hot Tots. After the Larks took game one on Thursday, they looked to do the same on Friday but were not able to get the job done, falling to the Tots in a lopsided affair.

The story of the night was Minot’s starter, Gavin Schmitt (Illinois). The right-handed sophomore had the outing of his life against the Larks, going eight complete innings, punching out eight, allowing no runs or walks, and earning his fourth win of the season. Schmitt would also go on to win Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night.

Despite the Larks outhitting the Tots, the walks killed the Larks on the mound, as Bismarck pitching gave up a combined 13 walks and two hit-by-pitches, allowing Minot to score seven runs.

The scoring got going early for the Tots, as in the first, Nic Pepe (Seminole State) led off the ballgame with a double, and then Max Lucas (Oral Roberts) hit him in with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. 

The Hot Tots scored one more time in the third from an RBI hit-by-pitch from Lucas to make the score 2-0, and then in the sixth, Minot exploded for three runs and then followed up in the seventh for another two. The Larks offense stayed quiet throughout the rest of the contest, as Gavin Nalu (Stanford) shut the door in the ninth to give Minot its third win in the Dakota Dust-up series. The final score was 7-0. 

On the bump for the Larks, Alec Danan (Mary) got the start and the loss, moving to 4-3 after giving up just two runs in five innings. The Metro Area Fastest Pitch of the Game came in the top of the seventh, when Bismarck reliever, Justin Goldstein (Middle Tennessee State) threw a fastball at 90 mph.

The Fetzer Electric Play of the Game came late in the top of the ninth, when Larks’ second basemen, Nick Oakley (UC Santa Barbara), made an incredible leaping catch to rob a potential RBI single up the middle. Oakley also doubled the runner-up at second base.

The Larks will go on the road to St. Cloud for the weekend to face the Rox. First pitch on Saturday is at 6:05 p.m. CT, while Sunday’s at 4:05 p.m. CT. The Larks are 2-4 against the Rox this summer.