WATERLOO, IOWA- The Waterloo Bucks (24-12) ended the Northwoods League first half on a high note by defeating the La Crosse Loggers (14-20) 5-3 on Tuesday, July 4. The Bucks finish in second place in the North Division first half standings, one game back of the St. Cloud Rox.

Kyle Leahy (4-0) got off to an uncharacteristically rocky start in the top of the first surrendering back-to-back hits to open up the game and David Villar brought around the first run of the game on an RBI fielder's choice.

Waterloo was ready to answer right away as Tyler Stover slammed an RBI double to left field tying the game 1-1 after one inning of play.

In the top of the third inning is when the scoring picked up on back-to-back RBI extra base hits by Luke Rasmussen and Cameron Cannon.

Down 3-1, Joe Genord decided to tie things up 3-3 on a two-run double to the left center field gap in the bottom of the third inning.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh inning when John Cable brought around Tyler Stover after Stover's third double of the night on a sacrifice fly to shallow center off of La Crosse reliever Peter Hamot (0-1) The next batter, Drew Greenwood knocked an RBI single up the middle pushing the score to 5-3 Bucks after seven innings.

Ryan Dunne (1) entered the game in a save situation in the top of the ninth and after his defense turned a double play he struck out Ryan Mantle securing the win. Victory number 24 on the season ties a first half franchise record in wins.

The Bucks hit the road tomorrow, July 5 to take on the Willmar Stingers at 7:05 p.m. for the first time of the season.

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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