Box Score

Alexandria, MN – With the score tied 9-9 in the bottom of the 9^th, Robert Case stepped to the plate having already hit one home run on the night. He proceeded to hit a walk-off solo home run to right-center field to give the Beetles a 10-9 victory over the Waterloo Bucks in dramatic fashion. With the win, Alexandria improves to 24-32 overall including 11-10 in the second half. The blue and yellow now sit at 29-27 to go with a 10-11 second half mark.

The home team was the first to score and that cam in the bottom of the 1st. Ben Moore put the Beetles up with a one out, two-run home run. The starter for Waterloo, Jordan Foley would settle down a bit and go on to retire the next seven Beetles in a row. Meanwhile, the Bucks would come to play at the plate as well.

In the top of the 2^nd, Kevin Kaczmarski started things off by reaching on an error from the shortstop. Sean Borman would follow it up with a single and one out later, Davis Hendrickson put the blue and yellow on the board with an RBI single.

The guests would tie the game up at 2-2 in the top of the 3^rd thanks to an RBI single from Borman bringing in Benny Roberts. The hosts would again take the lead 3-2 in the bottom of the frame thanks to an RBI single. They would add to that lead in the 4^th with a two-run home run from Robert Case and an RBI single to make the score 6-2 in favor of Alexandria.

Waterloo charged back in the top of the 5^th with six runs to take an 8-6 lead. Austin Barrett led off the inning with a solo home run, which gives him seven on the season. That total is good for second on the team. The Bucks weren’t done. Kaczmarski started things back up with a single and Borman trailed him with a walk. An RBI double from last night’s hero, Jordan Adams brought in Kaz. Borman then brought in Borman with an RBI groundout, 6-3. Connor McClain then walked to put runners on the corners. Adams scored on an RBI single from Connor McCallum and moved McClain to third. An RBI double bringing in McClain gave Waterloo a 7-6 lead and forced a pitching change. The 8^th run scored when the Bucks batted around and Barrett scored McCallum with a single to third base.

The away team’s lead was cut to 8-7 after an RBI double in the bottom of the 5^th.

In the bottom of the 6^th, the Beetles loaded the bases with no outs before Chris Dunn knuckled down. He struck out Moore swinging. He did then give up an RBI single to tie the score at 8-8 but struck out Dylan Raper in the same fashion and induced a fly out to escape with the score tied and strand three.

Waterloo then took a 9-8 lead in the top of the 7^th, their second lead of the game. Roberts hit a one out single to center and advanced to second on an error by the shortstop during Barrett’s at-bat. One out later, Kaczmarski was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second. The next batter, Borman reached on an error by the third baseman scoring Roberts. Then Kaczmarski tried to score and was gunned down at home plate by the right fielder to keep the Bucks’ lead at one run.

Alexandria led off their half of the 7^th with a single but that runner was caught stealing second base and the next two batters were retired. That marked the first time the home team hadn’t scored since the 2^nd inning.

However, they would tie the game up at 9-9 in the 8^th on an RBI double against Waterloo’s new pitcher, Justin Grijalva. Grijalva would leave without getting an out and another pitching came in the form of Kellen Camus. Camus struck out two batters and induced a groundout with runners on 2^nd and 3rd to get out of the inning. This kept the score tied going into the 9^th frame and set the stage for the walk-off win in the bottom of the last inning.

Anthony Bazzani gets the win for the Beetles and moves to 1-0 while Camus falls to 2-3.

Roberts, Barrett and McCallum each had three hits a piece while Barrett and Hendrickson both tallied two RBI.

In other news, the Bucks signed pitchers Tyler Foote (Princeton) and Conan Leon (Iona). This gives them a full roster with 26 active players.

Next up is the second game of this series on Sunday with first pitch set for 3:05 p.m. Keep checking back into www.waterloobucks.com for all of your latest information on The Cedar Valley’s Home Team.