MANKATO, MN – It was one of those days at the ballpark for Larks. You know those days, when the ball just won’t bounce your way? Those days when you swear the other team is hitting a bigger baseball than you are?
Today was one of those days.
The MoonDogs used a combination of hitting and pitching to beat the Larks 11-1 in a one-sided game that seemed to be over before it started.
In the bottom of the first, the MoonDogs put three runs on the scoreboard as they sent eight hitters to the plate. They scrapped out two hits and benefited from two Bismarck errors.
Larks starte Andy Lalonde’s day was over, but the MoonDogs just kept on hitting. They pushed across two more runs in the second inning, then two more in the third to make it a 7-0 ballgame.
The Larks would manage a run in the 4th inning off of Mankato starter TJ Satterly. Satterly walked four hitters in the inning and allowed the run to score when Luke Waldek drew a bases-loaded RBI walk.
Despite not allowing a hit, Satterly’s day was done after five innings of work. He allowed just one run to cross after walking six and striking out six.
In the two games against the Duluth Huskies, the Larks pounded out 26 hits. On Saturday, they went through six innings without recording a base knock. Newt Johnson’s leadoff single in the seventh ended the no-hit threat. The liner hit relief pitcher Cooper Powell’s glove before it trickled into the middle of the diamond where no player had a chance of making a play.
The Mankato bats stayed hot the entire game. They added two runs in the fifth inning, one in the seventh, and one in the eighth to finish with 11 runs and 14 hits.
Toby Hanson went 3-for-4 at the plate for Mankato. Hanson notched two RBIs and scored two runs himself to help lead the MoonDog offense. Jake Ortega also had three hits, one RBI, and three runs scored.
In place of Satterly, Cooper Powell pitched the final four innings and kept Larks hitters off balance. He finished with just two hits allowed, no runs, no walks, and six strikeouts.
For the Larks, Lalonde was chased after the first inning due to his pitch count. Lalonde gave up three runs (one earned) on two hits,one strikeout and one walk. Connor Hilburn (three innings), JC Bonilla (three innings), and Zach Walz (one inning) pitched the rest of the way.
One of those days it was. The MoonDogs had all of the momentum out of the gate and they stayed on the throttle all night long. Sometimes in baseball the other team has a fantastic night, and there isn’t much else that can be said. The Larks will have to wash this game and get back to swinging the bats like they did against Duluth.
Game two of the series in Mankato is Sunday at 6:05pm. The Larks will return home for two games versus the Willmar Stingers to celebrate Independence Day at The Nest on July 3rd and 4th. Start time for Monday July 3rd is 7:35pm.
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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
