The Waterloo Bucks (28-18, 5-7) pitching staff displayed unbelievable toughness while Chris Seng (0-for-1, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 SB) showed off his incredible baserunning IQ in a 4-2 win over the St. Cloud Rox (33-12, 9-4) on Saturday night. Waterloo’s pitchers stranded 15 runners on base while holding the Rox to a 1-for-15 performance with runners in scoring position. Seng scored two of the Bucks’ four runs, tying the game in the third while crossing as the go-ahead and eventual winning run in the eighth.
Duncan Davitt fired 5.2 innings of one-run baseball, scattering five hits and working around five free passes while striking out four. The righthander racked up 12 whiffs on 94 pitches, working out of multiple jams and flashing his guts with critical out after critical out.
Down 1-0 in the home half of three, Seng drew a walk then stole both second and third before Jalen Smith (1-for-3, R, RBI SF) plated him with a sacrifice fly. The Bucks added another in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead as McGowan crushed a leadoff double off the centerfield wall, moved to third on a passed ball then crossed home on a Mike Campagna (1-for-4, RBI) run-scoring groundout.
St. Cloud tied the game in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk, prompting the Bucks to turn the ball over to Eli Emerson (W, 1.1 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) with the bases loaded and two retired. Emerson struck out the Rox batter to keep the game at 2-2 and proceeded to fire a scoreless eighth.
Seng began the home half of the eighth by drawing a walk followed by a Smith single. St. Cloud’s pitcher uncorked a wild pitch that advanced both 90 feet then Seng alertly caught the Rox catcher napping, racing home on the same sequence on an errant throw to regain a Waterloo lead. Josh Kasevich (1-for-4, RBI) plated Smith with a bullet RBI single through the left side to provide insurance.
Curren Larson struck out two in the ninth to record the save, working around a walk.
The Bucks and St. Cloud close their series on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. CST, their final tilt before the All-Star break.