The Hays Larks rallied from an early 3-1 deficit, scoring three in the fifth and defeat Haysville 6-3 Saturday night at Larks Park. The win improves the Larks record to 9-3 and 5-3 in the Jayhawk League where they remain in second place, a half-game behind Liberal.

Manager Frank Leo postgame interview
Larks Manager interview 6-16-12

Game Highlights
Larks game highlights 6-16-12

Haysville struck first, scoring two in the first and one in the third off Larks starter Joey Begel (Illinois-Chicago) who was making his season debut. Begel would settle down and pitch five innings, allowing the three runs on three hits, striking out two and walking three for the win.

Relievers Blake Johnston (Arizona Western CC), Austin Cox (Chandler-Gilbert [Ariz.] CC), Claudio Valencia (Arizona Western CC) and Colton Reavis (Northwood) each worked a scoreless inning of relief.

The Larks scored their first run in the bottom of the first on a Zair Koeiman (Eastern Oklahoma State) solo homer to left field. They closed with a run on Koeiman’s sac fly following an Aaron Cornell (Oklahoma State) double in the third then tied the game on Brett Lang’s (UNC-Charlotte) single in the fourth.

Hays took the lead for good scoring three in the fifth. Jon Ryan led off the inning with a double and scored on Austin Darby’s (Nebraska) one-0ut single. Ryan Busboom (Fort Hays State) followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Brett Lang’s groundout scored Darby. Nolan Johnson (Chandler-Gilbert [Ariz.] CC) then singled with two-outs to drive in Busboom.

Darby finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and 2 runs. Koeiman and Lang both drove in two.

The Larks go for the sweep of the three-game series Sunday night at 7pm.