The Waterloo Bucks (28-14) won the Minnesota-Iowa Region Championship with a 17-6 season-finale drubbing of the Mankato MoonDogs (17-25) on August 20, 2020. Waterloo pounded out 20 hits in the victory, including a four-hit night from Jalen Smith (4-4, 2 BB, 4 R, 3 SB), as each starter recorded at least one base knock while Ryan Guardino (2-3, HBP, 2 R, 2B, 5 RBI) earned Northwoods League Player of the Night honors with a five-RBI performance. The St. Cloud Rox fell 9-3 at the hands of the Willmar Stingers shortly after Waterloo’s win, clinching the Bucks’ title.<\/p>\n
Mankato opened the scoring in the first with a two-run homer off the bat of Drew Stahl. Looking to respond in the second, Tyler Snep (3-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI) and Nathan Bandy (1-4, R, RBI) led off with back-to-back singles. After Snep was picked off, Zach Button (1-4, HBP, 2 R) was hit by a pitch and Kevin Lyons (1-5, R, 2B) reached on a hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Jake Hilmer (2-5, 3 R, 2B, RBI) brought home Bandy with a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch plated Button then Smith and Peyton Williams (3-5, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI) walked to load the bases. A Guardino hit-by-pitch scored Hilmer, then Smith tallied on a run during an inning-ending pickoff play.<\/p>\n
Following a MoonDog run in the third, Waterloo’s bats went quiet in the third and fourth. Still leading 4-3 in the fifth, Smith led off with a walk and was brought home on a Guardino RBI double. The latter scored on an ensuing Charley Hesse (3-6, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI) single, then Snep reached on an error that allowed Hesse to cross home and give the Bucks a 7-3 advantage.<\/p>\n
Waterloo added four more in both the sixth and seventh, and finished their scoring with a pair in the eighth. All in all, Waterloo’s one-through-five hitters went a combined 15-22 with 10 runs scored and 11 RBI.<\/p>\n
Duncan Davitt earned his third win of the summer with 5.o innings of three-run baseball, scattering five hits and a walk while striking out two. Jack Radford (2.0 ip, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) struck out a pair in two innings of work, then Will Christophersen (1.1 ip, BB, 2 K) and Button (0.2 ip, BB, K) combined for two scoreless frames to finish off Mankato.<\/p>\n
1,037 fans were in attendance for the final game of the Bucks’ 2020 season. Peyton Williams finished the summer with 13 home runs, tying Waterloo’s single-season record.<\/p>\n