Thunder Bay, ON – Waterloo started scoring early and didn’t let up with home runs from Jake Slade, Anthony Massa, and Collin Brightwell to thrash Thunder Bay 14-6 to sweep the Border Cats and win the season series 7-5 on Tuesday night.
After scoring ten runs in game one, Waterloo jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning in the series finale with Thunder Bay. Collin Brightwell hustled for a one-out double, then Caleb Parker drove him in two pitches later to put the Bucks up 1-0. One batter later, Jake Slade blasted his first home run of the year to spring the lead to 3-0.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Border Cats grabbed a couple of runs back. Bennet Crafton and Stevie Waters walked in front of Alex kean who roped a single to right to bring a run in, then on a throwing error, another run scored to make it 3-2.
In the bottom of the third, Thunder Bay took the lead. Jesus Vazquez singled, then Stevie Waters followed with a base hit of his own. With one out, Kean roped a double down the right field line to plate a pair to jump the Border Cats ahead 4-3.
In the top of the fourth, Waterloo had a quick answer with an Anthony Massa leadoff home run to knot the score at 4-4.
In the top of the fifth, the Bucks offense erupted. Three walks loaded the bases before Anthony Massa punched a single to right to give Waterloo the lead back, 6-4. One batter later, an error let a run in to make it 7-4. After a walk crammed the bases, Larry Edwards walked to force a run in to make it 8-4. During the next at-bat, a wild pitch opened the door for the fifth run of the inning to score to make it 9-4. Two pitches later, Brightwell slapped a single to left to bring in two runs to balloon the lead to 11-4.
Both teams tacked on runs late, including a two-run homer from Brightwell, as the Bucks cruised to a game two win, 14-6. Waterloo takes the season series with Thunder Bay 7-5 thanks to the sweep of the two-game set.
With the win, the Bucks go to 29-36 overall and 15-16 in the second half. Up next, the Bucks head back to the States for a two-game series with the La Crosse. The opener is scheduled for Wednesday night at 6:35 pm. Both starters in the game are TBD.
https://northwoodsleague.com/baseball/game/?id=6450