Waterloo, IA – On Sunday, Aug. 3, the Waterloo Bucks lost to the Thunder Bay Border Cats 9-8 at Riverfront Stadium to split the two-game series.
After the Bucks took an early 3-0 lead, Waterloo surrendered six runs to the Border Cats in the top of the fourth. The Bucks played from behind for the remainder of the contest. In the bottom of the ninth, Waterloo got the tying run all the way to third with two outs, but, ultimately, the team fell just 90 feet short of evening up the game.
For the second day in a row, Mitchell Iliff roped an extra-base hit to center field to plate a pair. This time, the powerful lefty crushed his first Northwoods League double off the wall to plate both Cole Smith and Jimmy Nugent, giving the Bucks their largest lead of the entire day. Iliff finished the contest with a game-high three runs batted in.
After the bullpen allowed a run in the fourth, the streak of 14 straight scoreless innings posted by Waterloo relievers came to a halt. However, Hayden Christman and Brandon Rice ended the game with three shutout frames to commence a new streak. Rice has now not given up an earned run in each of his last 11.2 IP.
Marcus Heusohn and Smith both drove in two, and Jake Bechtel contributed with an RBI double.
With his single that kickstarted the bottom of the first, Larry Edwards successfully reached base in his 27th consecutive game to surpass Jake Slade for the longest Waterloo on-base streak of the season. This stretch is currently the longest active streak of that sort in the NWL. He also increased hit hitting streak to double-digits.
With his stolen base later on in that inning, he swiped bag 63 of the season and 86 of his career, bringing him within four of the all-time NWL record of 90 held by Joey Bonadonna.
Tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 4, the Bucks host the Eau Claire Express at Riverfront Stadium for a 6:35 pm (CDT) game.