WATERLOO, IOWA- It took extra innings but the Thunder Bay Border Cats (8-14) come from behind to defeat the Waterloo Bucks (16-5) 7-4 in 13 innings and end their nine game winning streak.
The Bucks got off to a hot start plating a run in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI sacrifice fly by Keaton Presley. Joe Genord delivered an RBI sac-fly to right field in the bottom of the third and John Cable made it 3-0 Bucks later in the inning on an RBI single to left center.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Bucks advantage became 4-0 on an RBI single up the middle by Tyler Stover.
The Border Cats began to claw back in the top of the sixth inning when Andy Weber led off the frame with a triple and then was brought in on an RBI sac-fly from Colin Rosenbaum. Nick Ciandro singled in the sixth to drive in a run and all of a sudden it was a ball game after six innings with Thunder Bay trailing 4-3.
With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Brendan Dougherty reached on a fielding error by the Bucks second baseman Ian Nelson to extend the inning. The next batter Ciandro was hit by a pitch and then Braden Mosley smoked the ball for a base hit scoring the tying run but Ciandro was out at the plate on a great throw and tag at home plate.
The game would go into extra innings with both teams working out of several jams but in the top of the thirteenth with Ryan Dunne (0-1) in his second inning of work, a wild pitch proved to be costly with the base loaded handing the Border Cats their first lead of the game 5-4. Jean-Marc Francois added a couple of insurance runs on a two-run single up the middle.
The 7-4 score would stay that way as Cody O'Brien (1-0) finished off the Bucks 1-2-3 to conclude the four hour marathon.
Waterloo is back at home to continue the five game home stand by opening up a two game series against the La Crosse Loggers at 6:35 p.m. tomorrow, June 21 at Riverfront Stadium on Belly Buster Wednesday.
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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.