By Blake Dowson | [email protected]
As the Northwoods League teams moved into the second weekend of the summer regular season, the Hawkeye baseball players on their respective teams have started to settle into their summer homes.
All four teams that employ Hawkeyes on their rosters were in action this past weekend, each playing games on June 17 and 18 and Sunday.
The Waterloo Bucks (Robert Neustrom, Zach Fricke, Daniel Perry) were a perfect 3-0 on the weekend, taking a June 17 matchup against the La Crosse Loggers and a weekend series versus the Thunder Bay Border Cats.
Neustrom came on as a pinch runner in the June 17 game, scoring one of the Bucks’ runs in a 7-3 victory. Perry was 0-for-3 on the night but did pick up his sixth RBI of the young season.
In a 15-9 win over Thunder Bay on June 18, Neustrom got the start in his natural right field, picking up a walk in three plate appearances and scoring a run. Perry picked up his seventh RBI in the win.
With a 1-for-4 day on Sunday, Neustrom moved his average to .214, and Perry’s 2-for-3 performance bumped his average to .226.
The Rockford Rivets (Drake Robison) won two of three games this weekend, but the one loss was the game in which the Hawkeye hurler was on the bump.
Robison took the mound on June 18 against the Battle Creek Bombers for his fourth start of the year, getting in six innings of work before being pulled. The Ole Miss transfer gave up 5 runs on 8 hits, but only 3 of the runs were earned. Robison has given up 10 earned runs in 21 innings this year for a 4.29 ERA.
Eau Claire (Austin Guzzo) picked up a June 17 win over the Green Bay Bullfrogs before dropping a pair of weekend contests against the Mankato MoonDogs.
Guzzo had himself a big weekend, going 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs. In the win, the Canadian-born Guzzo went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored, and he added another hit and another couple RBIs in the June 18 game.
The three weekend knocks moved his season average to .500 and the 4 RBIs made it 5 on the year. Guzzo got the day off on Sunday.
La Crosse and returning league MVP Mason McCoy had a disappointing 1-2 weekend run, sandwiching a 4-3 win on June 18 with losses on June 17 and Sunday.
McCoy, leading off and playing shortstop for the Loggers, picked up his fourth double of the year on June 17. The Hawkeye third baseman, who will more than likely take over shortstop duties for Iowa next season, had 3 hits on the weekend — one in each game — to push his average to .293.
He also scored 2 runs, picked up his seventh RBI, and stole his third base of the season.
McCoy’s Hawkeye teammate and fellow Logger Luke Farley has been one of the biggest surprises of the Northwoods League.
Although he did not play on June 18 or Sunday, Farley went 1-for-3 on June 17, hitting his fourth home run and picking up his 13th RBI.
Farley’s 4 home runs are tied for fourth in the league, and his 13 RBIs are good for 13th.