Waterloo, IA – The Bucks fell behind 4-0 early to the visiting Honkers but Mikey Ramirez settled down and the offense came to life in the fifth inning by scoring seven runs. That is all Waterloo would need as they defeated Rochester by a score of 7-5 with the rubber match of the three-game set to take place tomorrow. With the win, the blue and yellow improve to 32-30 overall including 13-14 in the second half. The Honkers meanwhile, sit at 10-17 in the second half and 25-37 overall.
The visitors started the scoring early with a two-run home run off the bat of Justin Parr in the top of the 1st inning. They added to that lead in the 3rd with an RBI single and an RBI on a double play groundout to make it 4-0 in favor of the away team.
The hosts finally asserted themselves at the dish in the bottom of the 5th frame. Austin Barrett and Benny Roberts both singled and Kevin Kaczmarski brought them in with a two-run double. With Kaz at second, Sean Borman stepped up and hit a two-run bomb to right, his seventh round tripper of the season. Dan Sheppard then started things back up again when he was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Davis Hendrickson scored Sheppard with a double and Connor McClain then brought in Hendrickson with a single of his own. The Bucks stayed active on the base paths by stealing second with McClain. The next batter, Connor McCallum singled to right and the right fielder bobbled it allowing him to advance to second and McClain to score. At that point, the score was 7-4.
Ramirez (2-6) gave up four runs in the first three innings but settled down nicely to take the win. His final line reads eight innings, five runs, three of those earned on seven hits while striking out six and walking just one Honker. Chris Dunn then came in to get the three-out save (3) in which he didn’t allow a hit and struck out one opposing batter.
Dylan Nelson takes the loss for Rochester and is now 1-4 on the season.
At the plate, Waterloo had four players with multiple hits including Barrett, Hendrickson, McClain, and McCallum. Kaczmarski and Borman each led the way with two RBI a piece.
Next up is the final game of this series between the Honkers and Bucks. First pitch for Saturday is set for 6:35 p.m. The blue and yellow then go on a five-game road trip in St. Cloud, Minnesota to take on the Rox. Keep checking into www.waterloobucks.com for all your latest information on the Cedar Valley’s Home Team.