WICHITA – The Hays Larks took advantage of 11 walks and got a solid start on the mound from Wyatt Divis and beat the Kansas City All-Stars 10-0 in seven innings at Eck Stadium in the opening round of the 86th NBC World Series.
The Larks (21-8) advance to the second round of the 13-team double-elimination tournament where they will play the Lonestar (TX) Baseball Club at 8:3 p.m. Tuesday at Hobert-Detter Field in Hutchinson. Lonestar scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie then another in the 10th to edge the Houston (TX) MVP Prospects 3-2.
Divis (3-0), who had walked three in his 10 outings during the regular season, walked two in the first inning but settled down after that to pick up the win. The third-year Lark struck out nine while allowing only two hits over five innings.
Drew Buhr and Ryan Ruder both pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
The Larks first three batters reached safely to start the game in the top of the first inning. Leo Jiminian scored on a bases-loaded walk to newcomer Brennen van Breusegan. Matt Cavanagh, who doubled, scored on a wild pitch.
The Larks went up 3-0 on Jiminian’s groundout to short in the fourth.
They put the game away with a four-run fifth. With two outs, Max McGuire singled which was followed by four straight walks and a hit batter.
Hays tacked on three more runs in the in the seventh for the final margin.
Matt Cavanagh, Max McGuire and Sean Cooper all had two of the Larks 12 hits with McGuire driving in two runs.