DULUTH, MN- The Waterloo Bucks (10-4) held off a pesky comeback from the Duluth Huskies (6-8) to win their third game in a row on the road by a score of 7-5 on Monday night (June 12). Waterloo moves into a tie for first place in the Northwoods League North Division standings.

The Bucks wasted no time to get on the board in the top of the first inning on a two-run ground rule double by Drew Greenwood to right field. The very next batter John Cable, brought in another run on an RBI groundout to the right side of the infield as the Bucks tagged three runs against the Huskies starting pitcher Gaylon Viney (1-1).

Waterloo added to its lead quickly in the top of the second inning on an RBI single shot up the middle by Deion Thompson after Josh Elvir led off the inning with a triple. The Bucks took a commanding 4-0 lead after two innings.

Nathan Walker (2-1) worked out of three jams with two runners or more on base while striking out four batters in five innings of work.

Thompson contributed again with a RBI sacrifice fly out to left field pushing the Bucks lead to 5-0 in the top of the fourth.

With the bases loaded, a run was walked in to put Duluth on the board but Waterloo got the run back on another RBI single up the middle by Deion Thompson who finished the night with three RBIs.

The Huskies slowly chipped away at the lead to make it a 6-3 Bucks advantage after six innings. Cable helped answer the call with an RBI sac-fly pushing the Waterloo advantage back to four runs.

Zachary McLeod, Zachary Patterson and Zach Siggelkow all made appearances out of the bullpen until Brandon Downey (4) was called upon with two outs and two runners on in the bottom of the seventh. Caleb Robinson was the first to face him and on the first pitch he saw, Robinson cranked a two-run double off the left field wall to cut the four run deficit in half 7-5. 

Downey recovered and forced a groundout from Robinson in the bottom of the ninth, sealing the deal on the 7-5 victory.

The Bucks have a quick turnaround as they have a day-night doubleheader tomorrow, June 13 starting at 11:05 a.m. for game one and game two beginning at 6:35 p.m. Tail Waggin Tuesday and Twisted Tuesday are valid only for the night game.

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The Waterloo Bucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.waterloobucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Bucks as your favorite team.