BISMARCK, N.D.- The Waterloo Bucks (31-22) built another early lead and held on to beat the Bismarck Larks (24-29) 2-1 for their third straight win.

The Bucks struck first in the top of the second inning on an RBI single rolled to right field by John Cable followed up by a double down the left field line from Dalton Hurd to put Waterloo ahead 2-0 early.

Zachary Patterson (2-5) was dominant on the mound, tossing six and two thirds innings of scoreless baseball with five strikeouts. Jamie Kaye (1-2) threw his best stuff to counter Patterson, scattering eight hits over seven innings but he did not have any run support behind him.

Ryan Dunne (4) delivered a 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the eighth but ran into some trouble with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. An RBI singe bounced to the right side of the infield brought in the first Lark run of the game but Dunne recovered to set the next batter down via a force out at second base to close out the win to start the road swing.

The Bucks continue the four game series at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark tomorrow, July 25 at 7:05 p.m.

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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.