The Bismarck Larks put on an offensive display in there 21-0 victory over the Duluth Huskies. This game was the largest shutout margin of victory in the history of the Northwoods League and saw the Larks continue to set records this season by scoring a franchise record 21 runs in a game. Stephen Baughan hit two home runs in the game which included a 3-run homer and a grand slam en route to player of the night in the Northwoods League.

What’s Next: The Larks travel to Willmar to take on the division leading 19-11 Stingers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.

How It Happened: The Larks and Huskies were scoreless through the first two innings and Brody Tanksley helped out his pitcher by throwing two guys out trying to steal second on him in the first two innings. He threw out Nic Kent to end the first inning before getting a strike-’em out, throw-’em out double play for the first two outs of the second inning.

The action got going in the top of the third for the Larks. Three consecutive singles started the inning to load the bases before Zack Gregory reached on an RBI walk to break the scoreless tie. Three more consecutive singles from Alex Peterson, Ty Condel and Jacob Rogers scored four more runs to make it 5-0 before Stephen Baughan delivered a three-run home run to left center field to complete the 8-run inning before the Huskies even recorded an out. The first 8 Lark batters of the inning came around to score.

The Larks continued their success at the plate in the very next inning. The first four batters reached to start the inning which included three walks and one hit by pitch. That scored the first run of the inning before Stephen Baughan came up with the bases loaded and delivered another towering shot to left center field this time for a grand slam. The Larks led 13-0 and Baughan had 2 home runs and 7 RBI in two at-bats.

The Larks added one more in the 5th inning courtesy of a two-out error by the Huskies to make it 14-0. Starting pitcher Drew Mesecher’s Larks debut couldn’t have been much better as he threw 6 scoreless innings while throwing just 63 pitches. Mesecher allowed two hits and two walks while striking out three. The Larks bullpen threw three scoreless innings as well, Evan Davis threw two of them while facing just 7 batters and he didn’t allow a hit.

The Larks added two more in the 8th inning. AJ DiFillipo lead off with a double before a pair of walks loaded the bases. Alex Peterson delivered another 2 RBI with a two-out single to increase the lead to 16-0 through 8 innings.

In the 9th inning the Larks piled on five more runs totalling 21 runs in the game which is a franchise record. Three singles loaded the bases with two outs before Cooper Bowman drove in his first run of the game on his second hit of the game to make it 17-0. Clay Woeste then drove in the second run of the inning with another two-out single for the Larks before Alex Peterson capped his night off at the plate with three more RBI. A bases clearing double to straightaway center field put the Larks up 21-0.

Peterson’s night didn’t end at the plate however, as he hopped on the mound for the first time in his baseball career and fired a scoreless 9th inning. After allowing a lead off walk, Peterson then went on to retire the next three in a row to close out the two-hit shutout for the Larks.

Inside The Boxscore: Zack Gregory walked four more times in the game to up his total to 35 on the season which is the most in the Northwoods League by 7. Gregory also leads the league in on-base percentage and is the only batter in the league over .500 in the category currently at .563. The crazy part about that stat is that Gregory is tied for the league lead in plate appearances with teammate Wyatt Ulrich at 144. Meaning that in the 144 times Gregory has gone to the plate, he has gotten on-base 81 times.