Waterloo, IA – The Dock Spiders walked into Waterloo for the first time in team history and triumphed over the Bucks with help from Nate Novitske, who went 4-5 with two RBIs, and Andrew Bishop, who notched three hits and five RBIs as Fond Du Lac triumphed over the Bucks 17-9 in the series opener Thursday night.

After a solid all-around performance in the finale with Rochester on Wednesday, Waterloo’s offense stayed hot in the bottom of the first Thursday night. Larry Edwards walked, then stole second and third before Caleb Parker ripped a single right back up the middle to put the Bucks ahead 1-0.

In the top of the second inning, Fond Du Lac had the answer. Nate Novitske, Vincent Venverloh, and Andrew Bishop led off with singles, the last an RBI knock to tie the game 1-1. With one out, Carson Willis muscled a broken-bat base hit to left to plate the run that put the Dock Spiders up 2-1. 

In the top of the third, Fond Du Lac added one more. Ben Kuglitch doubled on the first pitch of the frame, then moved up on a single and scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1. 

In the bottom of the third inning, Waterloo made things even. Edwards singled, then stole second. After Collin Brightwell walked, the duo moved up on a double steal, then scored on an RBI groundout to plate two runs to level the score at 3-3.

In the top of the fourth, the Dock Spiders regained the lead. Evan Abbot laced a one-out double to left, then moved up on a single. During the next at-bat, a wild pitch allowed the run to score to give Fond Du Lac the 4-3 edge. With two outs, Joey Arend walked, then Novitske singled to right, then a fielding error brought in a pair of runs to make it 6-3. In the midst of the following plate appearance, a passed ball let Arend in to score to lift the lead to 7-3. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Bucks got a few runs back. With two outs, Anthony Massa and Bubby Dosztan-Campbell worked walks before John Cromwell blooped a single to left to plate Massa to make it 7-4. Next man up, Jack Coluzzi ripped an RBI double to right to slice the lead to 7-5. After a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Caleb Seibers legged out an infield single to cut the lead to 7-6. 

It was all Dock Spiders after that. Fond Du Lac scored 10 unanswered runs to take control of the game. Waterloo tacked on a couple of runs in the ninth, but it was too little too late in a 17-9 Spiders victory over the Bucks. 

With the loss, the Bucks go to 25-36 on the season and 11-16 in the second half. The series finale is set for 6:35 pm on Friday night. Brady Baur is on the bump for Waterloo. Fondy’s starter is TBD.