The Waterloo Bucks are out of the Northwoods League playoffs, despite winning a league-record 51 games during the regular season. The Duluth Huskies beat the Bucks, 2-1, at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo Tuesday night to complete a two-game sweep of the best-of-three North Division Championship series and advance to the Summer Collegiate World Series.
Waterloo Field Manager Travis Kiewiet, says the 2013 Bucks will be remembered as one of the best teams ever assembled in Northwoods League history despite not winning the title. He says things didn’t end up the way they wanted it too, but he will never forget this team.
The Bucks were the only team in the Northwoods League this summer not to lose three straight games during the regular-season. Surprisingly, Waterloo’s record-breaking season ends with a four-game losing streak. The Bucks ended their 70-game schedule with back-to-back loses to Willmar over the weekend, then suffered a 5-2 setback in the playoff opener Monday night in Duluth.
Tuesday’s loss marked the 8th time in 10 games that the Huskies beat Waterloo this season – a setback that ends the Bucks’ season at 51-21.
Kiewiet is already looking forward to next summer. “We’re in a position here were we can ask a lot of these guys back, some will take it and some won’t, but if we can get a core group of guys back, what they have cone through this summer will help build for a solid 2014 season,”Kiewie says.
By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein