By Mike Monaco

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Less than 24 hours after completing its massive comeback with a walk-off win at Four Winds Field, South Bend stymied Bowling Green again with a 1-0 victory at Bowling Green Ballpark on Saturday night.

The Cubs (6-4 second half, 35-42 overall) bested the Hot Rods (4-6 second half, 41-39 overall) in a game that featured a combined eighth hits (six for Bowling Green, two for the Cubs). South Bend claimed at least a split in the four-game, home-and-home series. On Friday night, the Cubs overcame a 6-0 eighth-inning deficit to tie the game and then win it in the 10th.

South Bend righty Michael Wagner dazzled in his second start of the season, spinning six shutout innings of two-hit ball. Wagner allowed a leadoff double in the first and didn’t surrender another hit until an infield single in the sixth. The 23-year old retired 11 consecutive Hot Rods between the second and sixth innings.

Bowling Green starter Hunter Wood only allowed two hits himself in six frames, fanning four and walking one.

But South Bend right fielder Jeffrey Baez socked a solo home run to left field to begin the fifth inning. Baez notched his first long ball since his second-inning shot on Opening Day against Bowling Green, snapping a stretch of 168 at-bats without a round-tripper. On Friday, Baez tallied two hits to break an 0-for-32 plague.

Cubs right-hander Ryan McNeil followed Wagner with scoreless seventh and eighth stanzas. Fellow righty Corbin Hoffner worked around two hits in the ninth to collect the save.

South Bend and Bowling Green conclude their four-game home-and-home series Sunday at 3:05 p.m. ET at Bowling Green Ballpark. Cubs left-hander Tommy Thorpe (4.02 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Hot Rods righty Henry Centeno (4.36 ERA).