HUTCHINSON - The Hays Larks got a solid start from Brady Rose and some timely hitting and beat the Austin (TX) Shockers 8-0 in the NBC World Series opener Thursday afternoon at Hobart-Detter Field.
Rose (2-0) allowed only one hit over five innings and picked up the win. The Dallas Baptist product matched a season-high with eight strikeouts and three walks.
Preston Tabor pitched three scoreless innings and Wyatt Divis got the final three outs to close out the win. Tabor scattered five hits and worked out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the bottom of the eighth with a strikeout and line-out.
After being shutout through the first four innings, the Larks got all of the scoring they needed with a four-run fifth After Leo Jiminian opened the key inning with a walk and Brady Evans reached on a bunt single. Both scored on Austen Jaslove's double off the left field wall. Palmer Hutchison drove in the third run with a double down the left field line. Ben McLaughlin drove in the final run with a single to right.
Ben McLaughlin, who was originally slated to play for the Larks this summer but opted to sit out when he felt discomfort in an elbow that he had Tommy John surgery the year before, added a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to blow the game open.
Hunter Rosson and McLaughlin, who was a second-team All-American at Hutchinson Community College this spring, both had three of the Larks 11 hits.
The Larks continue pool play Saturday against either the Seattle (WA) Studs of the Lonestar (TX) Kraken at yet to be determined time.