Waterloo, IA – La Crosse’s offense detonated for an eleven run sixth inning to propel the Loggers to their sixth straight win against Waterloo, 18-3, in the series opener Sunday evening.
After snapping a ten-game losing streak, the Bucks got on the board first in back-to-back games in the bottom of the third inning Sunday afternoon. Kevin Furuta laced a leadoff single to left, then moved up on Larry Edwards’ single. One batter later, Collin Brightwell blooped a single to left to plate Furuta to make it 1-0 Waterloo. Next man up, Caleb Parker dropped a double down the left field line to plate a pair to make it 3-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, La Crosse had an answer. Lukas Buckner ripped a triple, then Savion Flowers clubbed a double to right to bring Buckner in to make it 3-1. Mana Lau Kong made it three consecutive extra-base hits with his RBI double to cut the lead to 3-2.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bucks were set up with runners at second and third with two outs, but a lightning delay caused a break in the action. After a two-hour and one-minute rain delay, the inning came to an end on a groundout.
In the top of the sixth, the Loggers broke the game wide open. They sent 16 batters to the plate and scored eleven total runs, with the exclamation point coming from Savion Flowers’ grand slam to cap off the frame to make it 13-3 La Crosse over Waterloo.
In the top of the seventh, the Loggers put the game out of reach. Jake Redding led off with a solo home run to make it 14-3. A hit by pitch and a walk set up Flowers for his sixth RBI of the day on a single to make it 15-3. With two outs, Eli Small smoked a double to right to balloon the lead to 16-3. After a pitching change, Nicholas Mazzotta lined a single up the middle to make it 17-3. During the next at-bat, a wild pitch allowed another run in to make it 18-3 as La Crosse took down Waterloo in game one of the series.
With the loss, the Bucks go to 24-33 on the season and 10-13 in the second half. The series finale is set for Monday night at 6:35. Owen Coffman is the starter for Waterloo. La Crosse’s starter is TBD.