EAU CLAIRE, WI Travis Kiewiet has made being humble one of his notable characteristics as the Waterloo Bucks have enjoyed one of the franchie's best stretches during the last couple of years but on Thursday night he had no choice but to accept the attention. The Bucks' third year manager notched his 100th career victory with the team's 5-4 victory at the Eau Claire Express at Carson Park.
He becomes only the third manager in the team's 20-year history to reach triple digit wins, joining Darrell Handelsman and Eric Snider on the list. The victory is the sixth straight for the Bucks who moved to a season-best six games over .500%.
Cody Sedlock went 6.2 innings allowing two runs while striking out nine to earn the win. After having his start on Monday cut short by rain, Sedlock had to endure a persistent steady shower most of the game to shutdown the Eau Claire offense.
At the plate, Will Sparks had three hits while Pat MacKenzie and Ryan Nagle added two each. MacKenzie also had two steals.
Eau Claire jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Bucks rallied back for a run in the top of the second on a two-out RBI single that plated Connor McClain.
In the bottom of the fourth, Eau Claire appeared on the verge of extending their lead when the first two batters reached, but Sedlock would get a strikeout and a 6-3 double play to end the threat.
Then in the fifth, the Bucks would leap frog the Express. Nagle doubled and scored on a MacKenzie single to center field. Following a MacKenzie steal, Jon McAllister slapped a ground ball that bounced over a sprawled out third basemen to plate MacKenzie and give the Bucks a 3-2 lead.
Waterloo made it 4-2 in the sixth on a single by Nagle that scored Sparks who had singled to start the inning. A RBI double by John Sternagle in the seventh gave the Bucks the 5-2 advantage.
Eau Claire came back in the eighth to score two runs and cut the lead to 5-4 and with two-outs had the tying run at second base. JD Moore came in out of the bullpen and would get a strikeout to end the threat, while Adam Dian fired a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season.