The Bucks fell to the Huskies 5-3 on Tuesday, making tomorrow’s game the deciding one in the series. The Bucks outhit the home team and the Huskies also had four errors to the Bucks one but the visitors still were unable to come away with a victory. The Bucks are now 30-29 overall and 11-13 in the second half, three and a half games back of the Stingers. The Huskies are 14-11 in the second half and just one game back of first.
The Bucks would start the scoring off in the 2nd inning with the help of some poor defense by the Huskies. Kevin Kaczmarski singled to start the inning and was able to reach third base on an error and a wild pitch by Jonathon Meyer. An error off a hit from Jordan Adams then allowed Kaczmarski to score.
The Huskies would tie the game in the 3rd inning when Paul Karmeris scored after reaching on a double earlier in the inning.
Neither team would score again until the 7th inning as the game was primarily a pitcher’s duel. Kellen Camus, the Bucks’ save leader, got his first start of the season and was very solid, going five innings and giving up just one run on two hits. He also struck out four and walked two. On the other side, Meyer came into the game with a 7.43 ERA in 11 appearances this season but was much better tonight, going six and one-third innings with six strikeouts and no walks.
Both teams broke out of their scoring slumps in the 7th inning starting with two runs by the visitors. Dan Sheppard doubled to start the inning and was driven in by a Connor McClain single. McClain was able to advance to third on a single by Nico Zych and scored on an error by the third baseman on the same play. Down 3-1, the home team stormed back to take the lead. Conor Szczerba doubled to score Michael Suiter and Treysen Vavra singled to score two more, giving the Huskies a 4-3 lead.
Benny Roberts singled and stole second to start the 8th and Kaczmarski singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Unfortunately the blue and yellow were unable to advance anymore and stranded both runners. Wade Wass homered to give the Huskies an insurance run in the 8th but they did not need it as the Bucks failed to score in the 9th. McClain singled to start the inning but a double play and a grounder to the pitcher ended any hopes of a Bucks comeback.
The Bucks bullpen struggled tonight, giving up four of the five runs scored by the Huskies. Chris Dunn was the first out of the pen and went two innings, walking three and giving up three runs on two hits. Thomas Cardona came in next and gave up a solo home run to his first batter. He then walked one and gave up two hits and had to come out before getting any outs. Brett Andrzejewski was the final pitcher on the night and was really the only highlight out of the bullpen, throwing a perfect inning.
The Bucks take on the Huskies once again tomorrow night with first pitch set for 7:05 pm. Jake Powers is expected to get the start for the blue and yellow while the Huskies will send Max Macnabb to the mound. Remember to check out waterloobucks.com for all your latest Bucks information.
