Mankato (MN) It took more than four hours and 11-innings to complete but the Waterloo Bucks gave themselves breathing room in the North Division race with a 14-13 extra inning win at Mankato that could’ve taken anyone’s breath away.
Adam Dian struck out Quinnton Mack with the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the 11th to give the Bucks a wild win that wild momentum shifts throughout the night.
David Kerian had given the Bucks the lead in the top of the 11th inning with a RBI single over the leap of the second basemen Alex Polston that scored Chesny Young from second base. It was Kerian’s second RBI single of the night and one of 15 hits total for Waterloo which surpassed the 14 hits in the team’s offensive explosion on Friday at Thunder Bay.
The win, coupled with Willmar’s loss at home to Rochester, puts Waterloo two games up in the North Division’s first half race. Waterloo’s magic number to clinch the division now sits at three.
For a while it looked as though Mankato would take advantage of a Bucks team with bus legs after a 10-hour drive from Thunder Bay as the Moondogs led 5-1 after four innings. Waterloo rallied for three runs in the top of the fifth, highlighted by Kyle Pollock’s two-run homer to centerfield and the Bucks were within 5-4.
But Mankato answered back in the bottom of the fifth with three of their own to build the lead back up to 8-4.
Unfazed, the Bucks scored three more in the sixth inning to get back in the game, down 8-7. Connor McClain knocking in a pair of runs with a double.
Yet again, Mankato would copy it, with three of their own in the bottom of the sixth and the Bucks were down again 11-7.
Amazingly, the Bucks got back off the mat to score six runs in the seventh and take the lead. Jake Mahon, Pollock and Marco Calderon walked to begin the inning.
A John Ziznewski flare single to right made it 11-8.
After a strikeout, Pat Mackenzie walked with the bases loaded, forcing in a run and making it 11-9.
McClain then blasted a two-run double to left centerfield, clearing the bases and the Bucks were up 12-11. He would score on Kerian’s first RBI single and the Bucks lead 13-11.
Unfortunately, Mankato came back scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh on Jonathan Rodriquez’s two-out RBI single and getting another on a wild pitch to score a run in the eighth.
Mankato thought they had won the game in the ninth inning. Dian struckout the first two batters, but gave up a single to Rodriguez and walked Mack bringing up Matt Jones.
Jones singled to centerfield to apparently win the game but Calderon fired a strike to the plate to get Rodriguez in a close plat at home and extend the game to extra innings where Waterloo would win in the 11th. The play is the first outfield assist on the season for Waterloo.
