La Crosse, WI – The Waterloo Bucks defeated the La Crosse Loggers 12-7 on Saturday, June 14, at Copeland Park to jump into first place in the Great Plains East Division all by themselves with the best record in the Northwoods League at 15-4.
With Waterloo trailing 3-2 at the end of the fifth inning, a six-run top of the sixth gave the Bucks their first lead of the night, overcoming a 3-0 deficit. After Ethan Rossi roped his 50th career NWL hit into left field to plate Bennett Fryman, Waterloo never looked back. In the next at-bat, two runs scored after an Ian Halverson double down the right field line. Halverson finished the day with a team-leading three driven in and a game-leading three hits.
Alex Alberico earned his first NWL victory, pitching five innings and allowing four hits, four walks and three runs while striking out two.
Jake Bechtel and Jake Slade both hit solo home runs to the opposite field from the right side of the plate. Meanwhile, Marcus Heusohn drove in a run with an RBI single in the eighth while also extending his on-base streak to 15 games.
This victory gives the Bucks nine comeback wins on the year, advancing them to 10-0 when scoring at least eight runs. Putting up 12 runs tonight, Waterloo has now tallied double-digit run totals in eight of their first 19 games for the first time since 2009 (the last year data is available).
The series concludes tomorrow, Sunday, June 14, at Copeland Park with Bucks southpaw Eli Pillsbury taking the mound against righty hurler Caden Richardson of the Loggers. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 pm (CDT).