Waterloo, IA – It was a warm welcoming for CF Ricky Ramirez (McNeese State) when he clobbered a pitch over the right field wall in the eighth inning. This tied the game at 3-3 and eventually forced the contest into extra innings. St. Cloud (0-2) came up just short, 4-3, and lost to Waterloo (2-0) on a bang-bang play in the bottom of the 10^th inning.

With one out in the 10^th, Bucks outfielder Jake Hand beat out a potential double play ball at first base and the hustle allowed Adam McGinnis to score the winning run.

St. Cloud did not waste any time on a gorgeous sunny day and scored early in the first inning. Ramirez hit a looping line drive to shallow right-center field to jumpstart the offense. With two outs, Ben Petersen (North Dakota State) drove in Ramirez with an RBI single and the Rox took a 1-0 lead after the first inning.

It did not take long for the Bucks to fight back in the second inning after a costly error in the frame. After a lead off walk, starter RHP Austin Dubsky (Murray State) unleashed a pickoff attempt to first and the first baseman Brandon Illies (North Carolina) was not on the same page. The ball soared to the fence and that allowed Tyler Curtis to reach second base. Then, Adam McGinnis collected an RBI single to tie the game 1-1 after two innings.

Waterloo and St. Cloud discovered more offense in the fifth inning. First, LF Chris Kwitzer (Buffalo) launched a skyscraper pop up to shallow left field. Waterloo CF Matthew Paciello misjudged the ball and let it plop out of his webbing.

In the bottom of the fifth, Zach Fricke clubbed a double with one out. There was a chance to end the innings and the Rox almost avoided trouble, but McGinnis hit a chopper towards third and 1B Brandon Illies bobbled the baseball, which resulted in a run to score. Waterloo and St. Cloud were tied 2-2 after five innings.

Rox starter Austin Dubsky produced a strong performance on the mound tonight. The Omaha native tossed six innings, allowed five hits, two runs (both not earned), and had three strikeouts. At Murray State this year, Dubsky only threw six or more innings twice in his college season.

Malcolm Grady (Wabash Valley College) was summoned out of the bullpen for his first appearances of the season and faced some adversity. The 6-4 right-hander walked the first two batters of the innings and at one point threw seven straight balls. However, he managed to only surrender one run and stranded two base runners.

Brandon Downey (1-0) earned the win for Waterloo and Austin Briggs (0-1) was tagged with the loss. The Rox resume their road trip when they travel to La Cross, WI to take on the La Crosse Loggers. St. Cloud will start RHP Andrew Burnick (University of Pennsylvania) on Thursday. First pitch is set for 7:05pm CT and the Rock Solid Pregame Warmup starts 6:35pm CT.

Tonight’s St. Cloud Times Player of the Game is Ricky Ramirez (McNeese State). Ricky collected the first home run for the Rox in the 2016 season. For more coverage of the Rox during the 2016 season visit www.sctimes.com.

For more stats and information about tonight’s game, here is the boxscore:

http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=316627

Single game tickets can be purchased 24 hours a day at www.stcloudrox.com, by calling (320) 240-9798 or by visiting the Rox ticket office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex.

It’s opening week in Minnesota in the Northwoods League presented by Minnesota College Savings Plan.

The Minnesota College Savings Plan, is Minnesota’s official 529 college savings plan. It takes just $25 to start, making it easier for families to save for higher education expenses. Funds saved can be used at colleges, technical schools and grad schools nationwide to cover the cost of tuition, as well as books, supplies and other qualified expenses. Additionally, SavingforCollege.com recently ranked the Minnesota College Savings Plan as one of the nation’s top performing direct sold 529 plans. Find out more at www.mnsaves.org

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23^rd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2016, the Northwoods League is the largest summer collegiate baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com.