Written by Kyle Tatelbaum

BISMARCK, ND – Pitching woes and defensive miscues plagued the Larks again, as the team looks to reshape their identity in the second half of the season.

The Larks split the first road trip series with Mankato, falling 4-1 in game one and rallying to win 8-5 in game two. Starting pitchers Lucas Burgum (University of Mary) and Jake Swartz (University of Illinois) delivered strong outings in the opener. Burgum allowed a solo home run through five innings while recording his season-best WHIP in any appearance. Swartz lowered his team-best ERA amongst qualifying pitchers to 0.69 in a four-inning start where he allowed just one run a solo bomb from CJ Richmond (Purdue). 

The MoonDogs took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning after Jake Duer (Texas Christian University) singled and scored from first on a two-out double from Matthew Fleischhacker (Minnesota State University Mankato). Mankato added insurance but would only need one run as Ben Fiedler (Chipola College), Tate Marland (Cedarville University), and Grant Garza (Tarleton State University) combined for five shutout innings in relief to shut the door. Fiedler tossed two innings, striking out four in relief of the starter Swartz. Marland followed with two innings, recording his first scoreless outing in eight appearances, and Garza slammed the door in the ninth. 

The Larks took game two of the trip 8-5, powered by a monster performance from CJ Richmond who slugged two longballs and drove in six runs. Bismarck scored the only two runs that Richmond was not responsible for in the first, beginning with Davis Baker (University of Pennslyvania) who singled and stole second to lead off the game. Zach Daudet (Cal Poly) followed with a walk as Cesar Franco (Western Illinois) singled to right field to score Baker from second while advancing Daudet to third. After the second out was recorded Erick Dessens (Paradise Valley CC) jumped on the first pitch, sending the ball back up the middle to give Bismarck an early 2-0 lead. 

After Mankato took the lead with three runs on two hits and an error in the bottom of the fourth, the Larks put up three of their own in the fifth and never looked back. With runners on second and third with two outs after Joey Baran (Western Kentucky) and Zach Daudet reached on singles, the MoonDogs elected to pitch to CJ Richmond with a base open. On a 3-2 count, Richmond hammered a hung-breaking ball dead-center to push the Larks back up 5-3. 

History repeated itself in the seventh inning as Davis Baker reached on a single and Zach Daudet walked to put two men on for CJ Richmond. Down 0-2, Richmond climbed the ladder and blasted a fastball up and out of the zone over the right field wall for his second big fly sixth RBI. This two-home run game marks the third time CJ has achieved the feat, first on April 29, 2023, vs Indian Hills Community College as a Northern Iowa Community College Reiver, and second nearly a year later on April 28, 2024, vs Akron as a Western Michigan Bronco. 

Following the split with the MoonDogs, the team traveled two hours north to Willmar for a two-game set with the Stingers who won both games by a score of 5-4 and 14-5. The sweep marks the third straight loss to the Stingers, advancing the head-to-head record to 5-1 in favor of Willmar. 

The score was knotted at 3-3 through three innings in game one after each team scored two runs on three hits in the first and a run in the following inning. The score remained tied until the bottom of the fifth inning when Rhett Stokes (University of Nebraska) and Jessada Brown (University of California Santa Barbara) took matters into their own hands. Stokes reached on an infield single and Brown walked with one out. Both runners then advanced 180 feet, the first 90 on a successful double steal and the second 90 on a throwing error from the Larks catcher which enabled Stokes to score and Brown to trot home on a following wild pitch to give the Stingers a 5-3 lead. 

After scoring a run, the Larks had the tying and go-ahead run in scoring position. Still, they could not come through as Brett Barfield (Georgia Tech) finished his six-out save by forcing Jaylen Edmonds (Arizona Christian University) to ground out to seal the game. 

The Larks struck first in game two, scoring two runs in the second initiated by a leadoff double from Kyle Hvidsten (Western Kentucky) and a walk from Davis Baker. After both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch, Michael Davinni (University of Utah) cleared the bases on a sharp single up the middle. Davinni has recorded at least one hit and one RBI in every matchup with Willmar while hitting a team-leading .417 with a .878 OPS in the season series. 

It didn’t take long for the Northwoods League’s best offense to respond, as the Stingers roared back with eight runs. Trevor Winterstein (Augustana University) set the tone, blasting the first of three home runs in the inning over the right field wall on his longball in two seasons in the Northwoods. After the first out of the inning was recorded, Andrew Sojka drew his 19th walk of the season and Jessada Brown rifled a single through the right side of the infield to put two on for Max Buettenback (University of Nebraska). The league leader in batting average, OBP, and OPS found every stitch of a 3-2 fastball from Scott Borgmann (Wilmington University), as Buettenback launched a three-run home run over the right-field wall to put the Stingers in front. After reaching on a single and a walk, Gabe Swansen (University of Nebraska) and Maximus Martin (University of Arkansas) scored on an error by the Larks centerfielder off the bat of Nico Senese (Georgia Southern). Jack Taxdahl (University of Minnesota) capitalized on the mistake, launching his first career collegiate home run over the left-center field wall. 

Bismarck tried to mount a comeback with two runs in the fourth but could not contain the Willmar offense, surrendering three two-run innings for a total of 14 runs on 18 hits. With the win the Stingers improved to 5-1 against the Larks while extending their Great Plains West Divison Lead to 4.5 games.

The Larks open up July at home on Friday, July 5th for a single game vs the Minot Hot Tots before hosting the Badlands Big Sticks for two games on Sunday and Monday. Tickets can be secured at https://bismarck-larks.nwltickets.com/SingleGame/Tickets