Box Score

St. Cloud, MN- The Bucks lost a heartbreaker on Thursday, losing in 11 innings by a score of 11-10. After scoring three in the top of the 9^th to tie the game, the Rox still managed to pull out the win with a walk-off single in the 11^th. The Bucks move to below .500 at 33-34 on the season while the Rox are at 20-13 in the second half, a half game back of first place.

The Bucks started the scoring off in the 3^rd inning with back-to-back RBI doubles by Dan Sheppard and Kevin Kaczmarski. Jordan Adams singled to put Kacmzarski on third and the Evansville product was scored on the next batter on a single by Connor McClain. Adams scored later in the inning on a fielder’s choice, giving the Bucks a 4-0 lead.

The blue and yellow continued to pad their lead in the 4^th inning when Kaczmarski got his second RBI of the game, a single that drove in Benny Roberts. A Jason Hockemeyer single later in the inning scored two more. Boo Vazquez drove in the Rox first run of the game but after four the Bucks were up 7-1.

The home team came back strong though with six runs in the next three innings. They ripped off six straight hits in the 5^th inning to score four runs and Andy Henkemeyer drove in Chris Paul in 6^th to score another. Erik Kozel hit a double in the 7^th to score Nick Tanielu and tie the game at seven.

After the Bucks stranded a runner on base in the 8^th, they would give up three more runs in the bottom of the inning and fall behind 10-7. The Rox were able to walk in one run and Henkemeyer and Phil Imholte each scored later in the inning.

The Bucks stormed back in the top of the 9^th though and tied the game at ten. Connor McCallum and Roberts each drew walks and a single by Thomas Lindauer in between loaded the bases. Sheppard walked to score one run and a single by Kaczmarski scored two more to tie the game. Shane Trattles then pitched a scoreless inning to send it to extras.

Connor McCallum got to second with two outs in the 10^th but a great catch by Imholte ended the threat. The Rox came up with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the inning but Davis Hendrickson threw out a runner at the plate and Roberts made a nice catch on a liner to center to extend the game.

The Bucks were unable to reach base in the top of the 11^th and home team finally broke through in the bottom of the inning. After two quick outs, the Rox were able to load the bases on a single and two walks. Tanielu drove in Henkemeyer with a RBI single for the walk-off win and the team’s eighth straight win.

The pitching was somewhat shaky all game for the visitors. Mikey Ramirez got the start and went four and two-thirds innings and gave up four runs on nine hits, striking out three and walking four. Michael Edlefsen was first out of the pen and gave up one run in one and one-third innings. Chris Dunn also gave up a run in his inning of work. Conan Leon was unable to get any outs as he walked in a run and left the bases loaded for Brett Andrzejewski who was able to finish out the 8^th inning. The Rox scored two runs while he was pitching but both were charged to Leon. Trattles was the final pitcher and went two and two-thirds innings, giving up just the one run in the 11^th.

Overall the offense was solid but really slowed down late in the game with one hit in innings five through eight before finally breaking out in the 9^th with some clutch hitting. Overall, eight batters recorded hit with Kaczmarski and Hockemeyer leading the way with three hits each.

The Bucks take on the Rox in the final game of the series tomorrow night with first pitch set for 7:05 pm. On Saturday, the Bucks return home for the final two games of the season. Remember to check out waterloobucks.com for all your latest Bucks information.