DULUTH, MN – In an eery type of way for the Larks tonight's game felt extremely similar to yesterday's game.
The Bismarck Larks were swept by the Duluth Huskies losing 10-6 on Thursday evening.
In a near carbon copy of Wednesday night's game, the Larks led 4-2 after two innings of play.
The top of the second inning for the Larks began with a Luke Waldek two-run single scoring both Noah Sandler and Luke Horanski. Conner Perry would follow suit later in the inning by lacing a ball off the right field wall for a two RBI double.
A Larks four run top of the second inning offered hope to end a two game skid, but on this night the Huskies had plans to extend that Larks losing streak.
The Huskies got to business in the very next frame as they cut their deficit in half. Jake Pries scored on a wild pitch by Larks starter Alex Ross and Luke Roskam recorded one of his three hits on the night with an RBI single making it 4-2.
The two Hukies runs in the bottom of the second inning began a stretch of eight unanswered runs throughout the next five innings highlighted by a four run bottom of the sixth inning.
This is where the eeriness creeps in.
Last night the Huskies used a six run bottom of the sixth inning en route to a 9-5 victory. Tonight it was a four run bottom of the sixth en route to a 10-6 victory.
The bottom of the sixth featured Isaac Collins chopping a ball over Brandon Lankford's head at third base for a two-run double and Kyle Hubbuch adding a triple that drove in two more runs.
The most impressive part of that inning? All of the runs came off of Larks reliever Jeff Lindgren.
Lindgren entered into the ballgame showcasing a 1.10 ERA allowing just 1 ER on two separate occasions in 12 previous appearances.
The turning point in the ballgame also happened in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Larks failed to retire Dean Nevarez in a rundown after he was caught in between second and third on a sharp comebacker to Lindgren. The failed rundown occurred with no one out allowing runners on first and second that would eventually both come around to score.
The Larks attempted a comeback in the top of the seventh inning getting a sacrifice fly from Mitch Gallagher only to see Roskam hit a solo home run in the bottom half.
Both teams would add another run later on in the contest bringing the final score to a 10-6 tally.
The bright spots for the Larks were the night's Perry, Waldek, and Wyatt Ulrich had at the plate. Each player had two hits a piece as Perry added 3 RBI, Waldek had 2 RBI, and Ulrich was not retired on the night with two additional walks.
Ross went four and two-thirds innings in his sixth start for the Larks allowing four runs (3 ER) on seven hits and five walks.
Nick Scheidler went four innings in his second start as a Huskies pitcher giving up four earned runs on five hits while striking out seven.
The Larks hope to end their second longest losing streak of the year against Thunder Bay as the birds of Bismarck return to The Nest for a four game home stand.
First pitch for tomorrow night's contest against the Border Cats is set for 7:35pm as it is Friday Night Fireworks at the ballpark.
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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
