HAYS – Hunter Parker warmed up twice during a 55-munute weather delay thinking the game was going to start earlier than it did. It proved to be worth the wait. The Fort Hays State product pitched a complete-game shutout as the Larks finish off a four-game series sweep of the Fort Collins Foxes with an 8-0 win.
Parker (2-0) allowed seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks and needed only 96 pitches. He only allowed four baserunners into scoring position, two of the them in the ninth. After Jackson Romero reached on an infield single, Logan Cowart hit a slow roller back to Parker who but his throw to second in attempt at an inning-ending double play landed in center field. Leo Jiminian gunned down Romero at third. That play proved to be big after Drew Norsen’s double down the left field line but Parker struck out is Fort Hays State teammate Dylan Hupfer for the final out to preserve the shutout.
The Larks (20-4, 10-2 RMBL) scored three in the first on a Grant Schmidt double, a Leo Jiminian infield single and a passed ball. They added a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Sam Crowell who was add a two-run homer in the seventh. Brady Evans added an RBI single in the two-run eighth.
Cortland Lawson finished with three hits including a double. Crowell drove in three runs.
PARKER’S GEM
Hunter Parker’s complete-game shutout was the first for the Larks since Alex Lopez did it on June 26, 2016 in a 1-0 win over the Derby Twins. The last complete game by a Larks pitcher came from Nash Neff who threw a seven-inning complete game an an 11-1 win over the Denver Cougars in 2019.
UP NEXT
The Larks have two nights off before hosting a team from Oklahoma on Friday and
Saturday. Saturday will be Military Appreciation Night with all current and
former members of the armed forces encouraged to attend and take part in a
ceremony on the field before the start of the game. The Larks return to Rocky
Mountain Baseball League play Monday with the start of a four-game series with
the Colorado Rough Riders. The two will play a single game on Monday, a
doubleheader Tuesday then another single game on Wednesday. The Rough Riders
will be the home team for the first two games of the series.