Eau Claire, WI – Caleb Parker ties the Bucks franchise record for RBIs in a single season with his 64th of the year, but Eau Claire survives a late surge by the Bucks to beat Waterloo in the penultimate game of the 2026 season, 6-5.
After the Express took the series against Duluth, Eau Claire grabbed an early edge in game one against Waterloo. Cade Palkowski led off with a walk, then CJ Varsho blooped a double down the left field line to score the run to put the Express up 1-0.
In the top of the third inning, Waterloo tied things up. After a walk, Caleb Parker moved up to third on a throwing error and scored on an RBI groundout to even things up at 1-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, Eau Claire regained the lead. Adam Salazar reached on a fielder’s choice, then Landon Ubrig was hit by a pitch. One batter later, Mikey Muniz doubled to left to score Salazar to put the Express back in front, 2-1. Next up Palkowski roped a single to right to plate a pair, 4-1. After he moved up on the play at the plate, Palkowski stole third to score on a wild pitch in the ensuing at-bat to make it 5-1.
In the top of the sixth, the Bucks battled back. Bubby Dosztan-Campbell worked a one out walk before Anthony Massa and John Wubben singled to loaded the bases. Tayvon Homolar stepped up and served a single to center to bring in Bubby to chip away at the lead, 5-2. Next man up, Caleb Seibers drove a single to center to score Massa to cut the lead to 5-3. During the next at-bat, Wubben scampered home on a wild pitch to slash the lead to 5-4.
In the last of the sixth, Eau Claire found some breathing room as they got a run back. Ubrig smacked a triple to right, then scored on a Muniz sacrifice fly to pad the lead to 6-4.
In the top of the ninth, Waterloo made things interesting. Larry Edwards singled to lead off the inning, then stole second. With one out, Caleb Parker roped a single to left to bring Edwards in to score to tie the Bucks franchise record for runs batted in in a single season with 64 RBIs. After that, Riley Fisher closed things out for the Express and got the last two outs to shut the door on Waterloo and save a 6-5 win for Eau Claire.
With the loss, the Bucks go to 30-38 overall and 16-18 in the second half. Waterloo has one more game in the 2026 season and it’s the series finale against Eau Claire. First pitch of the final game of the year is slated for 6:35 pm Saturday night. Brady Baur takes the bump for the Bucks opposite Tommy Ches of the Express.