By HAILEY CHAPMAN
The Hays Larks began their home series with a bang, walking off the Park City Rangers in run-rule fashion, 15-5, in the bottom of the seventh. It was the ninth win in a row for the Larks.
Park City struck first, with its leadoff batter Rudy Reyna hitting a single and stealing second, third and home to take the lead. The Larks showed no mercy as they responded with six of their own runs in the bottom of the inning.
Drake Angeron showed off his speed with a bunt, reaching first safely. That sparked the offense as they earned a walk, reached on error, walk and a George Southerland double to score three. The bats didn’t stop there, as seven-hole Jarrod Belbin continued the explosive inning with a solo home run.
The Rangers were silenced by Larks starter Mason Myhre until the fifth inning when they rallied to score three. However, a pitching change ended the threat, and Park City was only able to pull across one more run from closer Herman Yanez.
The bottom of both the sixth and seventh innings proved critical to the Rangers’ survival in Game 1 of the series. Errors alongside walks gave too many free bases to the Larks, who capitalized with speed on the paths and RBI’s in crucial moments.
The seventh showed deja vu for the Rangers’ defense as they tacked on another error, a walk and a hit to load the bases with two outs. A hit by pitch forced in the 15th run of the game to force a seven-inning run rule.
Game leaders at the plate included Angeron, who was 2-for-2 with one RBI, George Southerland who was 1-for-1 with three RBI’s, and Jarrod Belbin who was 1-for-3 with a solo home run in the first inning.
Myhre pitched 4.3 innings and allowed three hits, seven walks, two strikeouts and four earned runs. Yanez came in clutch with 1.3 innings pitched, allowing two hits, one strikeout and one earned run. The win will go to Myhre, and the save to Yanez.
The strong outing moved the Larks to 9-0 in KCLB play as they prepare for Game 2 on Friday night, with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.