Waterloo, IA – On Monday, July 7, the Waterloo Bucks defeated the La Crosse Loggers 8-4 at Riverfront Stadium to win the series two games to one.
With a 5-4 lead going into the seventh inning, the Bucks turned to their reliver Brandon Rice for a team-leading 15th time this season. The righty from Mount Saint Mary’s University (MD) not only kept Waterloo in the lead, but he also finished the game, earning his first save of the year by recording the final nine outs. During his outing, Rice allowed only three hits and one walk while punching out one and leading the Bucks to victory.
On a single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth, Cole Smith put Waterloo ahead for good to cap off a three-run frame. This hit followed another single to center field by Jake Slade that tied the game at four. The previous batter Jimmy Nugent roped a double to plate Michael Barham who reached on a single and started the rally all with two outs.
An inning later, Owen Ross produced a pinch-hit single to plate a run. Then, a couple batters later, Nugent hit his second double of the game to send home the final two runs of the contest.
Jake Bechtel also drove in a pair of runs, and he, Larry Edwards, Marcus Heusohn, Nugent and Smith all ended the day with a game-high two knocks. With this performance, Heusohn has now attained 13 multi-hit games and reached base safely in 36 of his last 37 contests.
The Bucks hit the road to take on the La Crosse Loggers again over the next couple days. Tuesday, July 8, Waterloo plays a doubleheader in La Crosse. The first game of the twin bill commences at 12:05 pm (CDT) at Copeland Park.