Willmar, MN –  The Waterloo Bucks made the morning trip to Willmar, Minnesota, and laid down the law in a 16-2 offensive slugfest.

The offense started for the Bucks right in the top of the first inning where ten Bucks’ were sent to the plate and four total runs were scored. Three of the four runs came from pitching and defensive blunders from the Stingers and the Bucks didn’t stop there.

In the second and third, three more combined runs came across from a Chase Beattie double (2nd) and two fielding errors from Willmar (3rd). The Stingers ended the game with five total errors,

Willmar only scored two total runs in the game because of on-the-mound dominance for Aidan Elfering. In his third Quality Start in a row, he went six innings, only allowing two runs (one earned run), on five hits with five strikeouts.

Fast forward to the ninth inning when the Bucks lead 7-2. It seemed the game was out of reach, but the offensive wanted to keep adding. Six hits were served up from Bucks’s bats with the two biggest being a two-run double and two-run single from Larry Edwards Jr and Ian Halverson. Waterloo totaled nine runs, on six hits with a Willmar error just in the top of the ninth inning alone. Reliever Sam Hart finished his three-inning, one-hit outing in the ninth by shutting the door on Game One.

The Bucks and Stingers face off again tomorrow in a nighttime matchup, with the first pitch set for 5:05 PM.