Thunder Bay, ON – The Waterloo Bucks earned their first victory of the second half on Wednesday, July 2, taking down the Thunder Bay Border Cats 8-6 at Port Arthur Stadium to split the series.
In the top of the eighth with the score tied at six with two outs and runners on first and second, Marcus Heusohn shot a 3-2 pitch into left field that put the Bucks in front. They never looked back as Waterloo finished the contest with four unanswered runs.
Jake Bechtel led the charge offensively for the Bucks with two-run home runs in innings one and seven, both of which plated himself and Heusohn. The 6-foot-5-inch slugger collected three hits on the day, tying Heusohn for a game high.
Waterloo’s pitching staff combined for a season-high 12 strikeouts. Brady Baur avenged his defeat from the first game of the series as he picked up his first career win in the Northwoods League. The southpaw held the Border Cats scoreless from the sixth through the eighth while punching out a game-high seven batters.
In the fourth, Jake Slade roped a two-run home run to drive in Parker Sweeney and knot the game up at four.
Tyler Glowacki shut the door in the ninth with his first career save in the NWL. He has now struck out at least one batter in each of his last 11 appearances.
With his two runs in this contest, Heusohn needs to score just a couple more times to tie the NWL’s all-time runs record. When Larry Edwards got hit by a pitch in the eighth, he reached base in his 21st consecutive contest — two games shy of tying Heusohn’s streak, which is tied for first in the NWL this year.
The Bucks return to Riverfront Stadium tomorrow, July 3, for a doubleheader against the Willmar Stingers. Waterloo will play as the home team for the first contest starting at 5:35 pm (CDT) before taking on the visiting role for the back end of the twin bill which will commence 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.