The ninth inning of Wednesday night’s Bucks home opener at was a perfect microcosm of the previous eight innings.

Down by two runs heading into the bottom of the ninth, right fielder Patrick Fiala took a leadoff walk. A single by David Kerrian gave the Bucks two men on with no outs. A wild pitch advanced both runners, giving the Bucks twomen in scoring position with a golden opportunity to tie the game. Yet the Bucks failed to capitalize, as Steven Goldstein flew out to centerfield and Logan Sherer and Ryan Nagle struck out swinging.

Strikeouts were the theme of the night for Waterloo. Honkers pitchers racked up 14 strikeouts, 11 of which were swinging. Despite not making sufficient contact, though, the Bucks were able to stay in the game until the end.

Tim Shannon pitched well enough for Waterloo to earn a victory, though he ended up with a no decision. Shannon fanned five Honkers while allowing just one earned run over five innings.

The losing pitcher in tonight’s contest was TJ Peterson (0-1), who came on in relief of Shannon. Peterson allowed three runs over 1 2/3 innings. Dustin Carlson followed Peterson and allowed one run in 2 1/3.

Ryan Diers (1-0) notched his first victory of the season for the Honkers, as he did not give up any earned runs in his one inning of work. Carl Jameson earned the save, and was impressive in his three innings of work, striking out six and allowing just two hits.

Travis Kiewiet’s club will need to sharpen up defensively if they plan on replicating last year’s 51 win season. Errors from Jake Riffice, Robert Swenson, Shannon and Sherer lead to unearned runs that ended up costing Waterloo dearly. Nagle losing his footing on a fly ball hit to left field led to a base runner, as well, though the play was scored a base hit instead of an error.

Fiala made tonight’s defensive play of the game, making a sliding catch that saved at least one run. The catch, which ended the top of the first inning, was caused by Fiala initially running the wrong direction off the bat. He was able to recover quickly, though, and got the 1,209 fans in attendance on their feet.

The Bucks will begin a two game series against the Alexandria Blue Anchors at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday. The Blue Anchors will hope to swing some momentum in their favor, as they are winless through the first two games of the season.