Waterloo, IA – On Saturday, July 19, the Waterloo Bucks defeated the Eau Claire Express 6-3 at Riverfront Stadium for their first three-game winning streak since June 18.

With Jimmy Nugent on first and no outs in the bottom of the sixth, Jake Slade calmly approached the plate with intentions of breaking a 3-3 tie. Down in the count 0-2, he accomplished that goal. Golfing the ball over the left field wall, Slade crushed his fifth home run of the season to shoot the Bucks in front 5-3. Two innings later, he homered again. Those three runs were the final scores of the contest.

Brandon Rice earned the victory for the Bucks out of the bullpen for his fourth win of the campaign. Facing six batters across the sixth and the seventh, Rice did not allow any Express players to reach base safely.  Tyler Glowacki worked around a bases-loaded jam to deal a scoreless eighth, and Logan Boenker shut the door in the ninth to lock down his fourth save of the season.

Larry Edwards and Slade both earned a game-high three hits. As a result, Slade has now reached base in 22 consecutive contests, bringing him within one game of Marcus Heusohn’s mark of 23 straight from earlier in the year which still stands as the longest Waterloo streak of the season.

Edwards also stole two bags to bring his 2025 total to 43, tying Adam Boeve’s 2002 season for the most steals in a year by a Buck. Now, the record of 48 set by Lucas Moore last season is the only number in front of him.

Tomorrow, Sunday, July 20, the Bucks head north to Duluth to take on the Huskies at Wade Stadium for the start of a two-game series. First pitch in the opener of the set is set for 3:05 pm (CDT).

BOXSCORE