ST. CLOUD, Minn. – All it takes is one big inning to put the game away, and that’s exactly what happened for the Rox.

The St. Cloud Rox (19-9, 44-17) threw out starter Brayden Gainey, a pitcher who had torched the Bucks about a week prior to this meeting. And Gainey was having a masterclass yet again against the team in blue and yellow.

In fact, it was a great start for both pitchers as the Waterloo Bucks (6-21, 15-46) threw southpaw Blake Benson in his first start of the year. Through the opening third, the Rox and Bucks combined for just a single hit in a scoreless ballgame.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth that a run finally cracked the scoreboard when Ethan Mann tripled with one out, scoring a batter later when Garrett Pennington hit an RBI single.

However, an inning later, the Bucks would strike back as Brodie Kresser singled and advanced on a wild pitch before Tai Walton doubled that tied the ballgame at one a piece.

The tie didn’t last long as in the bottom of the inning St. Cloud scored when Carson Keithley singled. The Rox were content with leaving the bases loaded, but an errant throw into the infield by centerfielder Michael Mugan that allowed Magnum Hoffstetter to score from third and St. Cloud took a 2-1 lead.

The Rox didn’t look back scoring four more in the bottom of the sixth on three hits, and a Waterloo error leading by five, 6-1.

After that, the bullpen for St. Cloud took over in the back third as Conner Wolf pitched a scoreless frame, Carter Petron allowed a run unearned slamming the door in two innings of work as the Rox went on to win 6-2.

The run came in the eighth for Waterloo as Alex Crouch doubled, and with two outs what should have been an inning-ending groundout turned out to be a run-scoring error by the Rox first baseman.

The Bucks now look forward to attempting to split with the Rox on Sunday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. from Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud for what will be the Bucks’ final road game of the 2022 campaign. You can tune in for one final time this season on the road at waterloobucks.com