Waterloo, IA – The Iowa Sweet Corn suffered their second loss of the season on Friday, June 6, with a 4-3 defeat to the Thunder Bay Border Cats at Riverfront Stadium, ending their seven-game winning streak.
Although the Sweet Corn led 3-0 after the seventh, the Border Cats fought back with consecutive two-run frames in the eighth and ninth innings to surpass Iowa and claim victory.
Starter Kai Purdy-Burton pitched five scoreless frames, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out six.
The Sweet Corn scored an insufficient three runs in the contest with runs driven in by Will Johnson, Bennett Fryman, and Caleb Parker. Iowa stole a season-high nine bases on the evening. Larry Edwards led the way, swiping six bags in total — a season-high for stolen bases in a single game for the Sweet Corn this year. After tonight, Edwards is now tied for first in the NWL with 15 steals. Johnson finished the day with two swipes of his own, and Ethan Rossi picked up one.
In his Northwoods League debut, Grant Parker hurled scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh innings with no hits and just one walk on his line, punching out one batter in the process. Brody Leyboldt recorded the last two outs in the top of the ninth to give the Sweet Corn an opportunity to tie it in the bottom half, but the effort fell 90 feet short with Johnson stranded on third to end the contest.
Johnson finished the contest as the lone Iowa player with two hits.
Tomorrow, Saturday, June 7, the Waterloo Bucks travel to Eau Claire to take on the Express for the start of a two-game series beginning at 6:35 pm (CDT) at Carson Park.