Eau Claire, Wisc. – La Crosse ties the game twice after falling behind by two runs both times, but could not overcome as they fell in Carson Park 7-4.
The Loggers threatened early in the 1st inning. Mason McCoy (Iowa) led off the game with a walk, and Lars Nootbaar (USC) followed him with a single. But, a 6-4-3 double play and fly out ended the threat without scoring a run.
Loggers’ starting pitcher Nick Raquet (William & Mary) cruzed through the first two innings, but fell into trouble in the 3rd. He walked Mickey McDonald (Illinois-Chicago) to lead off the inning. After a stolen base moved him to 2nd base. Mickey scored when a fly ball by Ripken Reyes (California), that was lost in the sun, was dropped by La Crosse right fielder Griffin Conine (Duke) on an attempted catch. Sam Hurt (Kent State) singled two batters later, scoring Reyes to give Eau Claire an early 2-0 lead.
The Lumbermen offense responded immediately in their next chance. Lars Nootbaar and Cullen Large (William & Mary) singled back-to-back to lead off the inning. After a fly out, Cesar Salazar (Arizona) continued his hot streak with an RBI single that scored Nootbaar. Kyle Plantier (UC-Santa Barbara) brought in the tying run with a 2-out single.
The Express took the lead again off Raquet in the 5th inning. A double play erased a leadoff single, but Alex McKenna (Cal Poly) gave Eau Claire the lead with a solo home run. Cody Bohanek (Illinois-Chicago) brought in the second run of the inning with a 2-out single, scoring Kyle Marinconz (Cal Poly).
La Cross fought back in the 6th inning by putting their first two batters on base with a walk and an error by the shortstop Cody Bohanek. Nick Schranck (Illinois Central) pinch ran for Cesar Salazar at 1st base, but was picked off for the 1st out. Two more Express errors allowed two runs to cross for La Crosse, tying the game at 4.
Daulton Varsho (UW-Milwaukee) struck a clutch double for Eau Claire with a runner at 1st. A fielding error by Griffin Conine allowed the go-ahead run to score. Two more runs scored for Eau Claire in the 8th, but one was all their closer Christian Tripp (New Mexico) needed as he threw a 1-2-3 9th inning for his 6th save of the season.
Ryan Hamilton (Augustana) picked the win (4-4) for Eau Claire. He threw 6 innings, giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits. He walked 2 and struck out 5.
Mark Nowaczewski (Nevada) took the loss (3-3) for La Crosse. He threw 1.1 innings in relief, giving up a run on one hit. He walked one batter.
La Crosse lose the season series finale against the Express to fall to 7-8 (24-27 overall). Eau Claire wins the 9th game of the 2nd half (9-7, 34-18 overall). The Loggers fall to 3 games back of the Rox in the 2nd half and 10.5 games back of St. Cloud overall. La Crosse gets a much needed day off tomorrow before heading to Rochester for game two of a 5-game road trip. Game time starts at 7:05 PM.
