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Case Lifts Beetles in Walk off Fashion

July 29, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Alexandria, MN - In 30 games and 99 at-bats for the Alexandria Beetles in 2011, catcher Robert Case posted two homeruns. 2012 has been quite a different story. Case hit two homeruns on Saturday alone, the second of which was a walk-off bomb to center, as the Beetles (24-32, 11-10) came from behind to knock off the Waterloo Bucks (29-27,10-11) 10-9 on Saturday night.

Case, who now has three homeruns in two nights, also hit a two-run shot to centerfield just over the leaping Benny Roberts in the fourth inning to give the Beetles a 5-2 lead at the time. He finished the game 3-5 and was named Northwoods League Player of the Night.

For the fourth time in as many games in 2012, Beetles-Bucks turned into a slugfest at Knute Nelson. Ben Moore hit his 12th homerun of the season in the first inning off starter Jordan Foley, picking up RBIs number 61 and 62, as Alexandria took a 2-0 lead after one.

But just as they did last Sunday, the Bucks battled back against Beetle starter Jon Reed. A leadoff error in the second opened the door for an unearned run and Waterloo tied the game in the third on three singles.

Saturday was to be a back and forth affair as the Beetles, who scored in seven of their nine at-bats, retook the lead on a Moore single in the third and added three in the fourth on the Case shot and an RBI single from Josh Carpenter later in the inning.

That lead too was short-lived. The Bucks exploded for six runs in the fifth to knock Reed from the game as Waterloo sent 11 men to the plate with six hits and a pair of walks before reliever Mitchell Babb was called upon to close out the inning.

Down 8-6, Alexandria scored single runs, despite threatening for more, in the fifth and the sixth with RBIs coming from Dylan Raper and Jimmy Pickens to pull back to a deadlock.

Waterloo rallied for a single unearned run off Babb, who was brilliant, in the top of the seventh, to retake the lead 9-8. Babb allowed just two hits and struck out six in 3.2 innings of relief and kept Alexandria in the game as the offense got back to work. And in the eighth, RBI-machine Moore doubled to right to plate Matt Lowenstein, who walked four times in the game, to level the game at nine apiece.

That set the stage for Case's walk-off as Anthony Bazzani set down the Bucks in the top of the ninth to earn his first win and Case drilled a 1-0 fastball from Kellen Camus into Lake Winona beyond the leftfield wall.

Every Beetle starter except Lowenstein had at least one base hit. The Alexandria pitching staff struck out 12 Bucks on Saturday one night after striking out 14 MoonDogs. In the past three games, the Beetles have struck out a combined 35 opponents.

Alexandria and Waterloo conclude their season series on Sunday at 3:05 CDT at Knute Nelson.

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