WATERLOO, IOWA- The Waterloo Bucks (20-9) fended off a comeback effort from the Mankato MoonDogs (14-14) to win 9-7, while splitting the two-game series. 

The Bucks started off the scoring on an RBI double off of the center field wall by Tyler Stover in the bottom of the first inning. The score remained 1-0 until Brett Newberg (1-3) ran into some problems in the bottom of the fourth, it all started on a solo home run by Joe Genord that barely stayed fair down the left field line. After a couple more hits, John Cable roped an RBI double down the right field line. Deion Thompson crushed a two-run triple and an error by the first baseman Kyle Cuellar made it 6-0 Bucks. Jay Schuyler was not done yet though as he pounded his first homer of the season to left center putting the Bucks out to a comfortable 8-0 lead after four innings.

Kyle Leahy (3-0) lasted 5.1 innings in a starting role before the bullpen took over.

Mankato pushed across a couple runs to stay competitive but the MoonDogs showed they meant business in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by CJ Schaeffer and a two-run home run from Zac Wiley.

Ian Nelson delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to get a run back with the Bucks taking a 9-5 lead into the ninth inning where an RBI sac-fly by Logan Busch and a run scoring single by Schaeffer brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the top of the ninth.

Brandon Downey (6) came in out of the bullpen and retired Wiley on a pop-out to end the game 9-7 as the Bucks snapped a two-game slide.

Waterloo heads to Rochester tomorrow, June 29 to finish a suspended game on June 17. The suspended game with resume at 11:05 a.m. in the top of the third inning, the Honkers leading 2-0 with a Buck runner at first and nobody out with a 3-0 count to Deion Thompson. After the completion of the suspended game, the second game will be a seven inning contest.

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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.