Jordan Accetta tosses five scoreless frames in his third straight win for Waterloo.
Box Score: http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=316734
By: Jared Shlensky
WATERLOO, Iowa. – After seeing its seven-game winning streak come to an end on Monday, Waterloo bounced back with a 9-1 win over the Kenosha Kingfish on Monday night, earning a series split. Tonight’s game also marked the end of regular-season play against the South Division, where Waterloo won five of eight contests between Kenosha and Lakeshore of the South Divison.
Jordan Accetta (3-0) was stellar in his third start of the season. The right-hander tossed five scoreless innings for the second time this season, allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out four in his third straight win. Accetta has now allowed just one run in 15 innings, dropping his minuscule ERA to 0.60 after tonight’s five shutout frames.
Waterloo (11-3) took an early 2-0 lead on four straight hits in the bottom of the first. Zach Weatherford doubled down the right field line for the first hit of the game before Alex Boxwell singled to left, giving the Bucks runners on the corners. Tyler Curtis followed Boxwell with an RBI single to left, bringing in Weatherford. Adam McGinnis then doubled the Bucks’ lead with an RBI double. The double for McGinnis also extended his on-base streak to nine games.
The Bucks increased their lead to three with another run in the third. Boxwell led off the frame with a double before Curtis moved him to third with a groundout to the right side. McGinnis followed Curtis with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Bowell.
Waterloo tacked on four more runs in the fourth to go up 7-0. A bases-loaded walk from Robert Neustrom increased the Bucks’ lead to five before a two-run single from Curtis made it a six-run game. McGinnis extended the Bucks’ lead to seven with his second sacrifice fly, this time to left field, bringing in Boxwell from third.
Waterloo added two more runs in the seventh. Neustrom and Daniel Perry opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Lane Milligan drew a walk to load the bases. Zac Sanders made it 8-0 with a sacrifice fly before Taylor Boyd brought around Perry with an RBI single back through the middle.
Kenosha (5-9) scored their only run of the night in the eighth. Matt Hearn and JD Hearn drew back-to-back walks to begin the eighth before Marty Bechina scored M. Hearn with an RBI single to right for the final run of the evening.
Every Waterloo starter reached base at least once while four different Bucks batters finished with multi-hit nights. Curtis and McGinnis paced the offense with three RBI each while Boxwell scored three times and reached base in all of four of his plate appearances.
Derek Hendrixson and Hunter Spencer each tossed a scoreless inning of relief while Andrew Muehlberger went two innings out of the bullpen, yielding one run on two hits and three walks.
Alex Hamilton (0-1) suffered the loss for Kenosha. The southpaw was charged with seven runs over 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and three walks on the night.
The Bucks conclude their three-game homestand on Tuesday, June 14 against the Rochester Honkers. RHP Steven Baker (0-0, 1.03) gets the ball for Waterloo while RHP Isaac Friesen (0-1, 1.80) counters for Rochester in his second start of the season.
Tuesday’s game is Flag Day and a Twins Ticket Giveaway. The first 1,000 fans to enter Riverfront Stadium receive a Mini American Flag while one fan will receive a pair of Twins tickets to an upcoming Twins game this season as part of the SCHEELS Highway 63 Cup. All Waterloo Bucks games can be heard online at waterloobucks.com with Jared Shlensky.