The Bismarck Larks defeated the Duluth Huskies on Tuesday night by a score of 5-0. The Larks got off to a hot start in the first inning and starting pitcher Gavin Rogers did the rest. The Larks improve to 13-10 on the season and 3-2 on the road trip.

What’s Next: The Larks will take on the Huskies again on Wednesday June 18th before traveling home. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35pm again.

How It Happened: The Larks got things going right from the start. Wyatt Ulrich singled with one out before David Mendham walked. Brian Leonhardt then drove in his 17th RBI of the season with a single to center which drove in Ulrich. Mendham and Leonhardt then moved to second and third on a wild pitch before Jack Chernow reached on an infield single to score the second run of the game.

In the fourth inning, Cooper Bowman walked, then on the next four pitches made his way around the bases and scored. Bowman stole second before scoring on back-to-back wild pitches to increase the lead to 3-0 in favor of the Larks.

The Larks added two more later on in the game in the 7th inning. With the bases full of Larks and one out, Jack Chernow doubled down the right field line with the bases loaded to score two more runs and add to the cushion for the Larks which made it 5-0.

The Larks starting pitcher, Gavin Rogers was lights out from start to finish. Rogers threw 8 scoreless innings only allowing two hits and walking three. After he allowed a hit and a walk in the first inning, Rogers then got a lineout to end the inning before retiring the next 8 batters in a row. After retiring nine straight Huskies, Rogers allowed a two-out walk in the fourth before getting the next five in a row to up his total to 14 of the last 15 batters retired that he faced. Rogers then allowed a single in the sixth but retired the next four in a row to retire 18 of 20 batters in a row starting with the third out of the first inning and ending with the second out in the seventh. Rogers then finished his outing strong getting a pop up in foul territory to first baseman Brian Leonhardt who caught it and threw to first base where Rogers was to double off the Husky runner who was stealing on the pitch. Those were the final two outs Rogers recorded on the mound and the best defensive play that was made in the game.

Evan Miller then came into the game in the ninth and shut the door, retiring the side in order to cap off the 5-0 victory in style. The Larks will look to continue their momentum into the second game against Duluth.

Inside The Boxscore: Zack Gregory bounced back after a tough day at the plate yesterday with two hits. This was Gregory’s team high ninth multi-hit game. He hit his seventh double of the season as well which is the most on the team. Gregory retook the lead in on-base percentage in the Northwoods League at .562 which is even more impressive considering he has the third most plate appearances in the entire league with 107. Wyatt Ulrich has now scored 30 runs (1st in NWL) in just 23 games this season after scoring twice in the game. Ulrich leads the league in plate appearances with 109.