Waterloo Bucks (27-18, 4-7) starting pitcher Michael Mitchell absolutely shoved with 6.0 scoreless innings of four-hit, one-walk baseball while striking out 11 as the lineup flexed its versatility late in a 4-3 road win over the La Crosse Loggers (19-29, 5-7) on Friday evening. Mitchell worked at a 73.9% first-pitch strike rate, piled up 15 whiffs on 97 pitches and pounded the zone at a 70.1% clip while inducing weak contact on 36.4% of balls in play. All seven of the game’s runs scored after the sixth. Waterloo’s Josh Kasevich (2-for-4, R, RBI) and Max Jung-Goldberg (2-for-4) each had multi-hit performances in the win, while the Bucks tied a season-high with 17 strikeouts.<\/p>\n
Mitchell displayed his bulldog toughness in the first inning, working around the Loggers putting two on in scoring position with nobody out to keep the game scoreless. Garrett McGowan (0-for-4, SB) made an incredible throw to nail a runner at home to help secure the shutout frame.<\/p>\n
The Bucks’ starter dueled the Loggers’ righthander through six scoreless frames, rolling up a weak grounder right back to him in the sixth to finish his final inning of work and leave two on. Kasevich and Jung-Goldberg opened the seventh with back-to-back singles, then McGowan tapped a fielder’s choice to advance Kasevich to third. A short while later the Bucks’ shortstop scampered home on a passed ball, giving Waterloo a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
La Crosse tied the game in the home half only to see Ryan McNally (1-for-3, HBP, R, RBI, SB) and Sam Biller (0-for-3, BB, R, SB) begin the top of eight with a hit-by-pitch and a walk. The pair took off on a double steal and drew an errant throw into left, allowing McNally to cross home as the go-ahead run. Biller scored one batter later as Kasevich grounded a ball to first, with Biller sliding in safely under the throw from La Crosse’s first baseman.<\/p>\n
Nolan Santos earned his first win in relief by covering 2.0 frames and striking out five.<\/p>\n
McNally gave the Bucks an incredibly crucial insurance run in the ninth, rifling a two-out RBI single through the left side to plate Liam Critchett (0-for-3, HBP, R, SB, ROE).<\/p>\n
Aaron Treloar slammed the door with his first collegiate save in the ninth, striking out one while Chris Seng ended the game with a ridiculous sliding grab in right-center.<\/p>\n
The Bucks return home on Saturday evening for their final pre-All Star Break series, taking on the St. Cloud Rox at 6:35 p.m. CST.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Waterloo Bucks (27-18, 4-7) starting pitcher Michael Mitchell absolutely shoved with 6.0 scoreless innings of four-hit, one-walk baseball while striking […]<\/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-11947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n