The Waterloo Bucks (18-8) scored five in the eighth and four in the ninth to erase a 5-2 deficit and sweep the Duluth Huskies (8-18) by an 11-5 final on Friday night. Emi Gonzalez (2-for-3, 2 BB, 2B, 3 RBI, SB) delivered the knockout blow with a go-ahead three-run double in the eighth, while Garrett McGowan (3-for-3, 2 BB, 3 R, RBI, SB) reached base five times and Jalen Smith (2-for-4, BB, 3 R, 2B, SB) scored three runs in the leadoff spot. With the win and a La Crosse loss in Eau Claire, the Bucks now lead the Great Plains-East by 6.0 games and hold a magic number of five.<\/p>\n
Duncan Davitt dealt 5.1 strong innings while taking a no-decision, battling back from being struck by a broken bat to allow five runs on eight hits, scattering three walks and striking out three on 107 pitches.<\/p>\n
Waterloo opened the scoring in the first as McGowan and Josh Kasevich (1-for-4, BB, R) rapped back-to-back singles, with an errant throw on a pickoff attempt of Kasevich allowing McGowan to cross home. After Duluth tied the game in the fourth, Smith ripped a two-out double down the left field line in the fifth and scored on a McGowan RBI single.<\/p>\n
Trailing 5-2 entering the eighth, Smith led off with an infield single followed by three straight walks issued to McGowan, Kasevich and Daniel Irisarri (1-for-4, BB, 2 R, 3 RBI). Reuben Church (1-for-4, RBI) smoked a two-strike RBI single back up the middle to cut the deficit to one, then Gonzalez laced a bases-clearing double to right, giving Waterloo a 7-5 lead.<\/p>\n
Smith drew a walk to begin the ninth then McGowan singled back up the middle. One out later the duo executed a double-steal and were plated by an Irisarri two-run single sent into center. Chris Seng (1-for-1, 2 R, SB) lifted a single down the right field line and stole second, then following a four-pitch walk to Gonzalez the Bucks added two more as Max Jung-Golberg (1-for-2, RBI) rifled a two-run single the opposite way.<\/p>\n
Curren Larson earned his third win of the summer with 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two baserunners on a hit and a walk while striking out three. Brycen Mautz slammed the door with 2.0 shutout frames to pick up save number three, punching out a pair and scattering a hit and two walks.<\/p>\n
The Bucks are idle this weekend before returning to action on Monday, June 28 at Riverfront Stadium with a 6:35 p.m. CST start against the Bismarck Larks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Waterloo Bucks (18-8) scored five in the eighth and four in the ninth to erase a 5-2 deficit and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":10457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n