By Lance Jones

The Waterloo Bucks were on a mission to make the playoffs. Mission accomplished. Daniel Colwell (UCLA) and Brett Lockwood (Kansas State) combined to shut out the Thunder Bay Border Cats 4-0 on Tuesday night on the final night of the Northwoods League First Half. The Bucks (20-16) with the win locked down the Great Plains East Subdivision First Half title and a playoff spot against the second half winner. Thunder Bay finished up the first half at 14-21.

The Bucks margin of victory in the division was slimmest of all four playoff bound first half winners as they won by just one game. Waterloo will join the Willmar Stingers on the Great Plains side of things while the first year Traverse City Pit Spitters and the old guard Madison Mallards locked up playoff spots on the Great Lakes side.

The Cats made the Bucks earn it though. It turns out if the Bucks lost the game on Tuesday night, the Eau Claire Express would be in as they defeated the Mankato MoonDogs. Colwell and Lockwood made sure that did not happen though.

Colwell making his first start of the summer allowed just three hits, and none in the same inning as his two walks over 7 1/3 innings in his start. He got six strikeouts and it never seemed the Cats offense was able to do anything against Colwell. A good fastball-changeup combination with the slider worked in meant the Cats offense had only three leadoff runners on over the first seven innings and only one of them made it past first base.

Patrick Ferguson (Kent State) and Blake Berry (San Jose State) combined to give the Bucks a lead off of Border Cats Starting Pitcher Peyton Burks (Arkansas-Pine Bluff). A single and then an awkward fall in right field allowed Ferguson to second base. Burks threw a wild pitch and got a couple of quick outs before Berry’s double blast to right scored the Bucks first run.

And that run had to go on and on like the Energizer Bunny as it was the only one Colwell would have to defend. It was not until the seventh inning when the Cats Thomas Grilli (Panola College) picked up the Cats third hit of the game on their second infield single of the day that things finally started to threaten Colwell. Of course a following sacrifice as Jordan Larson (Northern Illinois) put down a perfect bunt to move Grilli to second meant the Cats finally had a runner in scoring position and that was Colwell’s night. Lockwood came in and got a pair of ground balls to leave Grilli stranded at third.

The Bucks ensured they were playoff bound however as they scored three runs on five hits in the ninth. Matt Campos (Hawaii) notched one run batted in on a single with runners on first second. A squeeze play put on by Mike Nyisztor (Rutgers) extended the lead as Blake Wagenseller (Cal Poly) crashed home for the third run. Ferguson would come through on another single to right to count Campos and the party was on in the Cedar Valley.

The Cats would threaten with a couple runners in the ninth by Lockwood secured a playoff spot with his first save of the season. Colwell picked up his first win to push his record to 1-1.

Border Cats starter Burks took a loss he did not deserve. Mostly throwing two of his three pitches, after the curveball left him for a bit Burks was dealing. After a rough first inning Burks in his second start of the summer allowed all of two base runners, one not his fault as he reached on an error, over the last five innings of his six inning start. The one run he allowed was unearned and he struck out three on a relatively efficient and effective start against a pretty good hitting Bucks team.

Jordan Jackson (Nevada-Reno) made his home debut and had some flashes of brilliance on the mound striking out four. He walked three over two innings but looked deadly with a high velocity fastball that was a little wild but nearly untouchable.

It was a first half for the Cats of which questions could be made about what might have been as the team started 3-12. Part of this may be a pitching experiment which notably seen pitching as a major woe for the team in that rough patch as the staff figured out the roles for pitchers. On games decided by three runs or less, the determinant of a save opportunity, the Cats finished 7-11 in the first half. However nine of those losses came on that 3-12 run to start the year.

The team ERA dropped from 6.93 to 4.68 over an 11-8 finish though, with games that were close and an offense that was struggling at the end. Thunder Bay’s second half schedule features tough slate. It will see the Cats face the Duluth Huskies and Eau Claire Express eight times each and the St. Cloud Rox six times. That’s 22 games of 36 against teams the Cats combined to go 1-9 against in the first half. These will prove to be pivotal matchups if the Cats want to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 championship season or finish above .500 for the first time in a decade.

But the Northwoods League Second Half begins were “All In” now. The slate is clean for all and a title is out there to chase. It begins with a tough customer as the St. Cloud Rox are in town for the first of a two game set starting on Wednesday night at Port Arthur Stadium with first pitched scheduled for 7:05pm. It is Weenie Wednesday, with hot dogs for $1 just $1 so bring down your loonies and score some frankfurters. The Border Cats will turn to Austin Eggleston (Friends University) who carries his 0-1 record to the mound making his first start of the season. The Rox will have Carter Bosch making his sixth start as he carries a 3-2 record out of his first five. The Rox smashed the Cats in the first two matchups down in Minnesota by a combined score of 26-6.