After scoring one run in the series-opener, the Minot Hot Tots have found the formula to scoring now. In back-to-back games, the Hot Tots have scored ten or more. They would put up 14 in Saturday’s win over the Larks, 14-5.

The Hot Tots were scoring from the start. A sacrifice fly by Max Ortega and a double by Christian Stratis brought in one run each. Up 2-0 after one inning, the Hot Tots picked up another score with a Matt Toomey RBI in the second inning.

Bismarck would get the offense going in the third inning against Minot’s starter Trent Harris. Harris was taken out after allowing five runs on five Lark hits, all with one out. Bismarck took the lead 5-3, but only kept it for a short time.

In the bottom of the third, Minot recorded three hits and were helped around the bases by four walks by Bismarck pitching. In the end, five runs scored for the Hot Tots to go back in front, 8-5.

Starting in the fourth, Minot’s bullpen would do their part in sustaining the lead. In his Corbett Field debut, Cade Dickinson pitched 3.2 innings out of the pen, allowing just three hits and zero runs. Jackson Duncan went two scoreless innings, getting the help of an inning-ending double play to escape a jam.

All the while, Minot kept adding on. In the seventh inning, TJ Stottlemyre hit a three-run home run over the left field fence, his first of the season. Two more runs were scored in the eighth inning on a Rowan Felsch triple. That play would make the score 14-5 Hot Tots.

Pavlos Piperakis breezed through the ninth inning to bring about the final.

The final matchup of the four-game series will take place in Bismarck tomorrow afternoon. The Hot Tots are just one win away from taking the season series from the Larks.

TJ Stottlemyre drove in three runs and scored three himself while playing a solid third base. His efforts were worthy of the SportClips MVP nod. Minot’s middle infield turned four double plays in Saturday’s game, all going in the books as the First Command Plays of the Game. The Hot Tots drew a season-high 13 Buffalo Wild Wings Walks and celebrated a Sky Dancer Casino Big Win before the Honeybees took to the field.