By Hailey Chapman
The Hays Larks continued their strong 2019 season start with an 8-3 win over the Dodge City A’s, moving them to 4-1 on the season, on Tuesday night.
The Larks opened their four game series Sunday evening with a 9-8 home victory and followed it with a 7-1 away victory Monday evening.
On Tuesday night, the team continued to apply pressure on the A’s pitching staff, forcing two pitching changes after four earned runs scored off of Dodge City left-hander Tyler Smith.
The damage was already done, as Larks starting pitcher Christian Pearcy was able to hold the A’s to one earned run in his five innings of play.
In the fourth inning, Pearcy faced adversity with runners on second and third with no outs. The Arizona native responded to the jam with three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning without any damage, keeping the Larks still on top 2-0.
This proved pivotal as the offense then erupted, scoring five runs to give their pitcher the run support he needed to finish his strong performance.
Game leaders were Mikey Gangwich, who went 2-3 with an RBI double; Skyler Luna, who went 1-2 with a triple; and Matt Cavanagh who went 1-5 with two RBI’s.
All 3 of the runs scored by Dodge City were earned as the Larks committed no errors. Stellar defense and strong command on the mound limited the A’s 14-hit performance to only 3 runs, while the Larks executed eight runs on 11 hits.
Winning pitcher in game three of the series was Pearcy, who is now 2-0 on the season with a 1.80 earned run average.
Losing pitcher of Dodge City was Smith, who is now 0-1 with a 12.00 earned run average.
The team will travel for the fourth and final game of the series on Wednesday, June 5th.