BY CAYDEN SANDERS
PHOTOS BY CAYDEN SANDERS AND JESSALYN KIRCHHOFF
The boys of summer are back for another homestand at Larks Park this weekend and next week. After a four-game road trip in Colorado earned the Larks three wins, Hays welcomed the Colorado Roughriders to Larks Park Wednesday night.
The Larks won game one 12-6 even with giving up one run to the Roughriders in the top of the first inning. The Larks’ offense came alive, though as the team scored five runs in their first inning. In the second inning, the Roughriders and Larks continue the scoring as the Roughriders put on two more runs before the Larks scored three runs of their own.
The Roughriders tacked on another three runs in the top of the third but Hays added to their lead with four more runs of their own resulting in the final margin.
“Of course, as a coach, you don’t want to give up multiple runs at the start of the game,” Assistant Coach Keith Harper said. “But we had good innings from all of our guys tonight and I knew that we would be able to find our groove as a pitching staff.”
The Larks’ high-powered offense continued in game two as Hays blew by the Roughriders 13-2 after seven innings. The Larks scored first with an RBI single from Dylan Dreiling. In the second inning, Austin Jaslove hit an RBI single to give the Larks a 2-0 lead. The Roughriders scored one run back.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Larks added six runs to the bottom of the fifth to lead 8-1. The Roughriders added one more to the scoreboard before the Larks scored in the bottom of the sixth. Three of those runs come at the hands of Tyler LaRue; the first baseman hit a three-run home run to end the game in a walk-off fashion.
“When the ball left the end of my bat, I knew it was a home run, I have been seeing the ball well tonight, and I am just glad the game ended the way it did,” LaRue said, “Our team has been putting in the work these past couple weeks, and it is showing.”
The Roughriders and the Larks finish the series at 7:00 p.m. today at Larks Park.
