Waterloo Bucks (30-31, 10-15) starter Brandon Vial covered 6.2 innings of one-run baseball and earned his second win of the summer in a 2-1 victory over the St. Cloud Rox (38-22, 18-7) on Tuesday evening.
The Austin Peay State righthander struck out three while scattering seven hits and four walks, inducing 14 whiffs on 107 pitches.
Blake Wagenseller (2-4, 2 R, 2B) led off the fifth inning with a double and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Alonzo Rubalcaba (0-3, SAC). One batter later, Bryce Wooldridge (1-2, BB, RBI, SB) singled home Wagenseller with a line shot to right, giving Waterloo a 1-0 lead.
Wagenseller struck again in the seventh, singling and advancing 90 feet on a groundout. A balk brought him to third, then scored on a passed ball.
After St. Cloud brought the game to 2-1 in the seventh with two outs, Bucks pitching coach Matt Perea handed the ball to Alec Holcomb. Waterloo’s relief ace recorded the next seven outs, six on strikeouts while picking up 10 whiffs on his 40 pitches in earning his fourth save.
Ethan Copeland (2-3, BB) reached base three times in the win.
Waterloo and St. Cloud wrap up their series at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday on the Bucks Radio Network powered by 1650 The Fan.