Eau Claire, WI – On Friday, Aug. 8, the Waterloo Bucks defeated the Eau Claire Express 9-1 at Carson Park as Larry Edwards tied the Northwoods League all-time record for stolen bases.
With one out in the top of the seventh and Edwards — fresh off his first stolen base of the day — standing on second with Cole Smith at the dish, number five darted for third. Swiping the bag while remaining upright, Edwards stole his 90th base of his career to tie Joey Bonadonna for the Northwoods League all-time record.
Later on in the same at-bat, Smith laced a single into right field to plate Edwards for his second run scored of the contest. That run gave the Bucks outfielder 62 for the year to tie Chesny Young’s 2013 total for the most runs scored by a Waterloo player in a single season.
The Bucks began the game hitting 5-for-6 with runners in scoring position. After Eau Claire recorded two outs before the Bucks could advance a runner to second base, Smith walked, and Jake Bechtel singled to set the table for Jimmy Nugent’s tenth home run of the campaign. From there, Waterloo never turned back.
Brady Baur tossed seven innings of three-hit ball while allowing only one run and striking out a career-high of eight. The outing gave Baur his second quality start of the season and the 17th of the year for Waterloo’s pitching staff.
Every bat who started in the lineup for the Bucks logged at least one hit. Sam Finn, Mitchell Iliff and Edwards all doubled, and Nugent added in the fifth triple of the year for Waterloo in his second trip to the plate. Nugent led the charge with four runs driven in as Iliff plated two. Smith and Finn also each picked up an RBI.
Sam Hanson pitched scoreless eighth and ninth frames to finish the game. With one K, he extended his streak of recording at least one strikeout in each appearance as he has earned one or more punchouts in all nine of his games.
The victory gives Waterloo nine wins against Eau Claire in 11 tries for the year.
Tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 9, the Bucks conclude their season with a 6:35 pm (CDT) meeting against the Express at Carson Park.