WATERLOO, Iowa – The Great Guardino has done it again.

After the Minnesota Mud Puppies (5-11) took a four-run lead heading into the middle of the third, the Waterloo Bucks (8-23) knew they had work to do.

It all started when Kyle Huckstorf hit an RBI single in the third, followed by a wild pitch and a Raphael Pelletier RBI single in the fourth brought it to a one-run ballgame with Minnesota in front 4-3.

That would remain the score through the middle third until the seventh when the Bucks tied the game on another RBI single from Huckstorf that scored Ujimori from third.

Despite the Bucks crawling back from a 4-0 deficit, the Mud Puppies weren’t about to go down quietly scoring on a sac fly in the top of the ninth to take a 5-4 lead and put the pressure on Waterloo, now down to their final three outs.

Carter Hendrickson came in to slam the door for Minnesota, and quickly the Bucks were down to their final out with just a single runner on base. However, with the Bucks down to their final strike, Cameron Cromer singled to push runners to the corners and forced a Mud Puppies call to the bullpen.

It was then up to Ryan Lambert who walked Huckstorf in the first batter he faced. So, with the bases loaded and the Bucks down a run it was up to Ryan Guardino who faced a 3-1 count. Just a single ball would have tied the ballgame, but instead, Guardino launched the next pitch to center field. A grand slam.

The Bucks won the ballgame 8-5 on the walk-off grand slam to take the first game of the series over Minnesota. The Bucks will look for the sweep tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. from Riverfront Stadium. You can still buy tickets at waterloobucks.com or stream the game free at Watch NWL.