The Big Sticks continued their stay in Casper for game two of the three-game series against the Horseheads. This game marks the final day in the first half of Expedition League play.

Starting on the mound for the Sticks was the Mayville State man, Adam Sendon, and starting for the Horseheads was Will Clair of Mt. Hood Junior College.

The scoring started right away in the top of the first where, after a Marcus Hughes double and a Travis Ray single, runners where on the corners for Derek Gellos. With two outs, Gellos was able to come through with a base hit for an early 1-0 lead.

The Horseheads fired back in the bottom of the first after they rattled off three straight singles to start the spearheaded by Ryan Callahan’s hit on the ninth pitch of his at-bat to drive in a run. Senden was able to limit the damage from then as he was able to induce the final three outs in a row.

In the top of the third, the Big Sticks retook the lead after Marcus Hughes led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a Carson Lundmark single, proceeded to steal third, and finally scored on a wild pitch. Travis Ray drove in Lundmark on a groundout to extend the lead to 3-1.

The Sticks scored again in the fourth after Wyatt Setian reached on an error and promptly scored on Alex Thurston’s double. The Horseheads were able to match this run in the bottom of the fourth after Hank Dunn’s leadoff triple scored on Harris Beckley’s single.

Casper came to within one run in the bottom of the fifth on a Jake Rainess double to make it a 4-3 ballgame.

Big Sticks reliever’s Parker Collett, Mason Hoover, and Carson Lundmark took over after the fifth and shut down the Horseheads, allowing only one hit in those four innings.

The Sticks offense kept pounding in the late innings as, in the sixth, it was Marcus Hughes again this time driving in Jakobe Smith with a single, as Hughes went four-for-five on the night. Two more runs came across in the seventh, by way of an error and a Wyatt Setian sacrifice fly. Finally, in the eighth, Derek Gellos got his second RBI as he drove in Lundmark to push the score to 8-3.

That’s the way the game would conclude as the Big Sticks got their 8 runs on 16 hits and made no errors, and the Horseheads scored 3 runs on 9 hits and committed 3 errors. Winning pitcher is Adam Senden, hit first, and the loss goes to Will Clair, his second.

The game concludes the first half as the Big Sticks finish with a 17-13 record, and the Horseheads complete with an 8-22 mark. Neither team was able to clinch a playoff berth as the Souris Valley Sabre Dogs (21-9) and the Western Nebraska Pioneers (23-8) were able to do so.

The two teams will look to reach the postseason as the second half kicks off on Thursday, July 1 and will see the Sticks and Horseheads in the rubber match of the series in Casper, first pitch set for 6:35 PM MDT.