8ST. CLOUD, Minn. – In a rematch of the 2021 Great Plains Championship Game at Joe Faber Field, it was the Bucks jumping out to an early look looking to get revenge for last year’s team.

The Waterloo Bucks (5-14, 14-39) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Caleb Corbin got the hitting started with a double down the left field line. Immediately after that, Tai Walton would get a triple over the head of the centerfielder and scored on a wild pitch a couple of pitches later.

But after an inning of joy, the St. Cloud Rox (14-7, 39-15) took over. In the second, Ethan Mann launched a solo shot over the left field wall to make it a 2-1 game. An inning later in the third, the Rox exploded offensively scoring four runs on four hits, all singles, with two walks added in.

From that point forth, the Rox led and held the Bucks to nearly nada offensively. Rox starter Brayden Gainey retired 13 straight Bucks after the Walton triple in the first and didn’t allow a base runner until the seventh inning when Josh Patrick led off the inning with a triple.

But despite a man at third, and nobody out, the Bucks failed to push a run across, and the Rox took advantage scoring three more in the bottom half of the inning.

The inning was headlined for the Rox by an Ethan Mann two-RBI double, which brought him just a triple shy of the cycle as he ended the night four-for-four with a home run, and two doubles.

The Bucks showed promise with three of their four base hits going for extra bases, but it wasn’t enough to stop a hot Rox team.

Waterloo looks for the split Friday night at 7:05 p.m. from Joe Faber Field. You can listen in to Friday’s game, as well as all Bucks road games, at waterloobucks.com.