Duluth, MN – Aidan Elfering delivered the first nine-inning complete game of the year for Waterloo at Wade Stadium on Thursday, July 24, as the Bucks defeated the Duluth Huskies 3-1.
Every day on the ball field, each player has an opportunity to play a role in history. Today, number 35 not only played a role in history. He etched his name in it.
Since 2009 (the last year data is available), the Bucks had played a whopping total of 1,145 regular season games heading into this evening. In game 1,146, Elfering delivered just the seventh nine-inning complete game for Waterloo during that stretch.
Having hurled 90 pitches through eight innings of one-run ball, Elfering strutted to the bump one last time in the ninth. Using ten pitches, he retired the first two batters of the frame, elevating his pitch count to triple digits. Then, on his 101st pitch of the contest, he induced a weak dribbler up the first base line. He bounced off the mound, fielded the ball and glove-flipped it over to first.
A complete game.
Elfering ended the contest with just six hits and one walk allowed while punching out three. Now, only he and Chris Petersen have attained three quality starts for the Bucks this season.
By swiping third base in the top of the seventh, Larry Edwards tied Lucas Moore’s 2024 single-season Waterloo record for stolen bases at 48.
With the Bucks trailing 1-0 in the top of the seventh, Michael Barham knocked in the first run of the game for Waterloo with a one-out single that plated Mitchel Iliff. Slade also scored on the play as the Bucks went from down by one to ahead by one. They never looked back.
With his seventh-inning single, Slade reached base in his 25th consecutive game, extending his lead for Waterloo’s longest on-base streak of the year. Edwards’ RBI double later in the frame closed the scoring for the day and gave him 18 straight games of reaching base safely.
The series concludes tomorrow at Wade Stadium where the Bucks will play the Huskies at 6:35 pm (CDT).