The Waterloo Bucks’ (34-32, 14-16) held the Duluth Huskies (27-37, 14-14) to just four hits in a 4-2 win on the road Thursday evening. With just three games left until the Great Plains-East Subdivisional Series begins, the Bucks have won their last three games.
Luke Mattson earned his third win by tossing 5.0 innings of three-hit, three-walk baseball while allowing two runs and striking out five. The righthander piled up 8 whiffs on 85 pitches and threw up four scoreless frames to end his outing.
Waterloo opened the scoring in the first as Bennett Hostetler laced two-out a single to left, moved to third on walks drawn by Dylan Phillips and Ethan Copeland then stole home on a straight steal.
After Duluth stole the lead with a two-spot in their half, the Bucks tied things at two in the fourth. Alonzo Rubalcaba drew a one-out walk and advanced on a Morgan Hostetler walk. Kyler Arenado drove an RBI single to the alley in right-center, plating Rubalcaba.
The Bucks added two in the fifth as Patrick Ferguson led off with a walk and Bennett Hostetler blasted a ball to center that Duluth’s outfielder mishandled, putting both men in scoring position. Copeland brought in Ferguson with a groundout, then Hostetler scored on a wild pitch.
Brett Lockwood picked up his third hold of the season by covering 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and a walk with three strikeouts. Fellow member of the “Four Horsemen” Alec Holcomb retired all six batters faced to slam the door on his fifth save, striking out four.
Waterloo and Duluth wrap up their series on Friday at 6:35 p.m. on the Bucks Radio Network powered by 1650 The Fan.