The Bucks dropped their first series of the season on Friday, losing to the Stinger 10-4. The Bucks lost two of three to the Stingers in this three game series, the only two losses on the season for the Bucks. The Bucks pitching struggled throughout the game with the offense just not doing enough to keep up with the Stingers.
The Bucks got the first run of the game right away in the top of the 1st. Thomas Lindauer singled to start the game in his first game of the season in the lead-off position. After two wild pitches to advance him to third, Benny Roberts drove him in to put the Bucks up 1-0. The Bucks wouldn’t score again until the 6th inning.
In between that, the Stingers offense regained some of the firepower that they had during their three game winning streak, putting up seven runs to take the lead 7-1. The Stingers did most of their damage in a four run 4th inning, with all the runs coming off a grand slam by Michael Suchy, who had five RBIs on the game.
The Bucks scored runs in the 6th, 7th, and 9th innings but the Stingers kept scoring also to keep the game out of reach for the Bucks. Kevin Kaczmarski provided a good chunk of the offense for the Bucks, with an RBI single in the 7th to score Connor McClain and then hitting his first homer of the season in the 9th. The Bucks were only able to draw three walks in the game, less than half as much of their season average of 6.3.
The Bucks pitching gave up double digit runs for the second time in the series and allowed a season high 14 hits to the Stingers. Starter Rick Dodridge only managed to go 3.1 innings, allowing seven hits and walking four. The defense wasn’t able to help much either, allowing two unearned runs to score when Dodridge was in. Gunner Johnson followed in his second appearance of the season but gave up two earned runs in 1.1 innings. Jordan Milbrath followed, giving up three more in 2.1 innings of work. Nick Maiers threw a perfect inning to wrap up the pitching for the Bucks.
The Bucks come home Saturday for a quick two-game series against the Duluth Huskies. The Huskies come into the series just two back of the Bucks, who are now tied for the division lead with the Mankato Moondogs. Game time on Saturday starts at 6:35 pm, be sure to check out waterloobucks.com for all your latest bucks information.