Waterloo Bucks (26-17, 3-6) starter Camren Landry struck out 10 batters and allowed just one earned over 5.0 frames in his first collegiate start while the lineup scored 14 runs on 15 hits in a 14-8 win over the Rochester Honkers (19-22, 4-5) in game one of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Landry scattered three hits and two walks while inducing 15 whiffs on 100 pitches to earn his first win of the summer. Left fielder Jackson Lyon (3-for-4, BB, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI) blasted a grand slam on his first swing as a Buck in the first inning and was joined by Johnny Tincher (2-for-5, HBP, 2 R, RBI, SB), Jalen Smith (2-for-4, BB, R, 2 RBI, SB), Josh Kasevich (2-for-5, 2 R, RBI), Ryan McNally (2-for-4, BB, 2 R, 2B, RBI, SB) and Dalton Chandler (2-for-5, R, 2 RBI) as one of six players with multi-hit games.
After Landry worked a scoreless first inning, Tincher was hit by a pitch, Smith drew a walk and Kasevich singled to load the bases with none retired in the home half. Following a lineup, Mike Campagna (1-for-4, BB, 2 R, RBI) laced an RBI single to left, then Lyon destroyed a 2-0 offering over the Cost Cutters sign in left-center for a grand slam in his first Bucks at-bat. McNally doubled two pitches later, stole third and scored on a throwing error.
Rochester plated four unearned runs in the second, cutting the Bucks lead down to two. Waterloo responded two frames later in the third as Campagna walked then Lyon, McNally and Chandler cracked three straight singles. Smith capped off the inning with a two-out, two-run single to left-center.
The Bucks added three in the fifth as Sam Biller (0-for-3, BB, HBP, R, 2 SB) led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a Tincher single. Waterloo’s DH stole second then crossed home on a Kasevich single, with the latter later adding the Bucks’ 12th run on a wild pitch.
Waterloo’s final two runs came courtesy of a two-run Chandler single in the eighth.
Nolan Santos earned his first collegiate save with 3.0 scoreless to close things out, striking out two while scattering a hit and a pair of walks.
The Bucks and the Honkers wrap up their doubleheader at 6:35 p.m. CST on Wednesday evening in Waterloo.