WATERLOO, Iowa – Oh how sweep it is.

The Waterloo Bucks (4-12) swept the Bismarck Larks (5-11) in a split doubleheader on Thursday night from Riverfront Stadium after the bats woke up, and the Bucks added four new arms to the bullpen.

In game one, Bismarck built a 3-0 lead off the back of a 2-RBI triple by Khalid Collymore in the second inning. However, the Bucks didn’t take too kindly to the lead being built by the visitors as Tai Walton launched a shot to straightaway center field driving in Cameron Cromer to cut the deficit to just one.

Three innings later in the fifth, Kyle Huckstorf, not to be shown up by Walton launched a two-run shot of his own to left-center field on a baseball traveling 402 feet. That homer tied the ballgame at four after the Larks had reclaimed a two-run lead in the previous inning.

With the game all tied up, the game entered the eighth without either team scoring since the Huckstorf home run in the fifth. With two outs and two strikes, Cameron Cromer doubled to right field to put a runner in scoring position, for who other than Tai Walton. Walton, just like Cromer before him worked a two-strike count, and with the count full lined a triple past the diving glove of Dylan Perry in left field to give the Bucks a late-game 5-4 lead.

That would end up being the final tally for the early afternoon game as the Larks could only get a single runner off a walk against Aaron Treloar who came in to record the save, and strike out the last two batters of the ballgame.

Newcomer Blake Benson from the University of the Ozarks in Arkansas earned the win on the mound for the Bucks in his debut, becoming the second Buck of the season after Cael Bohemer to earn the win in his first game with the team.

Three hours later, the regularly scheduled 6:35 game began as the Bucks started Keaton Parker, the winning pitcher of the Bucks’ previous win heading into Thursday’s action. Parker had 10 days rest after his previous appearance on June 6^th in the win over the Eau Claire Express.

Parker would dominate after allowing a run in the second inning. Two hits and a walk set up a sacrifice fly by Bradlee Preap to give the Larks the lead for the second game in a row over the Bucks. The lead wouldn’t last long as the bottom of the fourth saw the Bucks strike back with a Shaydon Kubo RBI groundout to tie the game at 1-1.

Parker would pitch through the sixth inning without allowing another Lark to come home safely. He would earn the win on the night, and player of the game honors.

The sixth inning is where the wheels fell off for Lark starter Josh Alpough. Tai Walton earned another RBI on a double that scored Ryan Guardino. Liam Critchett would single that scored Walton, and Critchett came in to score on a wild pitch by Alpough.

With the Larks now down 4-1 they looked to Kaiden Cardoso, a two-way player out of the bullpen. However, things got from good to great for the Bucks during Cardoso’s outing. Five more runs crossed the plate during the seventh as four hits and an error to put Waterloo up by a score of 9-1.

Bismarck would get two back in the top of the eighth to pull within six runs.

With the game pretty much in hand, the Bucks kept scoring. The bottom of the eighth featured Zen Hiatt out of the bullpen for Bismarck in his first pitching appearance since high school. He allowed back-to-back base hits to Cameron Cromer and Colin Kasperbauer before Ryan Guardino unloaded the bases with a three-run home run to left-center field. To give the Bucks the lead that would end up going final by a score of 12-3.

With the doubleheader sweep, the Bucks have won back-to-back games for the first time this season. Additionally, the two wins mean the Bucks won the same number of games in one day as they had through the first 14 games of the season.

The Bucks and Larks play twice more, once each on Friday and Saturday. First pitch for Friday is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with Iowa freshman Marcus Morgan toeing the rubber. You can still purchase tickets to Friday’s game, which includes a 2-for-1 concessions special on waterloobucks.com. If you can’t make it out to the ballpark you can stream the game live on Watch NWL.