Waterloo Bucks (23-10) righthanders Amir Asghar, Cameron Hagan and Camren Landry combined for a season-high 17 strikouts as the Bucks shut out the La Crosse Loggers (13-22) by a 13-0 final on the Fourth of July in front of a season-high 1,825 fans. The shutout marks the fourth of 2021 for Waterloo as they earned their fourth straight win and scored double-digit runs for the fourth time in their last six games. Emi Gonzalez (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI) had the lone Bucks multi-hit game, Max Jung-Goldberg (0-for-0, HBP, 3 BB, 2 R, RBI) reached base four times, Cameron Repetti (1-for-2, HBP, R, HR, 5 RBI) launched a grand slam and Josh Kasevich (1-for-4, BB, 2 R, HR, RBI) homered to lead an extremely productive evening from the lineup.

Asghar struck out four batters and retired all nine batters he faced while making his final start of the summer, inducing weak contact at a 40.0% rate while racking up seven whiffs on 41 pitches.

Kasevich put the Bucks on the board with a line-drive solo home run rocketed over the left field wall with one away in the fourth, then Garrett McGowan (1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R) and Jung-Goldberg drew back-to-back walks followed by a Gonzalez single to load the bases. After a mound visit, Repetti absolutely destroyed the first pitch he saw with a towering grand slam launched to deep left field, giving the Bucks a 5-0 lead.

Hagan was the first out of the pen and earned his first win of the summer by firing 3.0 scoreless frames of relief, striking out eight and allowing just two hits and a walk. The righthander finished his night by incredibly striking out seven batters in a row, piling up 10 swinging strikes on 54 pitches.

Chris Seng (1-for-2, BB, R) led off the fifth with a single and Jalen Smith (0-for-3, BB, HBP, 2 R, SB) was hit by a pitch to put two on base with none retired. After a flyout, McGowan and Jung-Goldberg took back-to-back walks with MJG’s being a bases-loaded free pass. Gonzalez laced an RBI single to right, then Repetti was hit by a pitch to plate another. Johnny Tincher (1-for-4, R) tapped a run-scoring fielder’s choice to short, putting Waterloo in front 9-0, then Drew Bianco (1-for-4, RBI) singled home Gonzalez. Tincher scored on a wild pitch to give the Bucks a 11-0 advantage through five.

Two more scored in the sixth as Smith and Kasevich drew walks before scoring on a Gonzalez sacrifice fly and a Ryan McNally (1-for-1, RBI) run-scoring single.

Landry finished things out with 3.0 innings of shutout baseball, scattering a hit and a walk with five strikeouts to record his first save of the summer. He pounded the zone with a 90.9% first-pitch strike rate and hit the zone 31 times on 42 pitches. The Bucks’ closer incredibly worked at a 31.0% whiff rate with 13 swinging strikes.

Waterloo closes out the first half on Monday at 6:35 p.m. CST against the La Crosse Loggers at Riverfront Stadium. The Bucks are one win away from tying their franchise record for the best first half finish at 24-10, set in the historic 51-19 2013 campaign.