The Bombers lost their third straight game tonight as the Eau Claire Express completed their sweep with a 7-5 win. It marks the first time in 2011 the Bombers have lost a series.

Battle Creek jumped ahead 1-0 when Bryce Redeker hit a homer to lead off the second inning, sailing a fly ball deep over the left field fence. It was the last time they would score until the sixth inning. In the third, the Express batted through the order on just two hits, scoring five runs in the process and forcing Bombers starter Joe Battistelli to exit the game thereafter. Eau Claire scored another pair of runs in the fifth when Alex Tukey allowed back-to-back homeruns to the Express to open the inning. However, the Bombers battled back in the sixth, scoring a pair, and brought individual runs across in the seventh and eighth.

Jimmy Martinez had his best game of 2011 at the plate, going 3-4 with a two-run homer in the sixth inning.

Three pitchers tossed three innings each for Battle Creek. Battistelli got the start, while Tukey appeared and Chad Jasman, after starting on Thursday, completed the effort, setting the Express down hitless in the last frames.

The Bombers now head down the home stretch of the road trip, facing the Waterloo Bucks in Iowa for two games before returning to Battle Creek on Monday. Fans can hear the live play-by-play on www.battlecreekbombers.com, with Voice of the Bombers, Greg Talbott, calling the action.

After losing their first game of the 2011 season Friday night, the Bombers traveled to Wisconsin Rapids, WI, and battled back from a 5-2 deficit to win in thrilling style: an 8-6 10^th-inning victory over the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters in an exhausting 3:20 game at Witter Field.

Battle Creek jumped ahead early when Jordan Dean led-off the game with a single, and was brought around to score on a Jimmy Martinez RBI double, who would score in the same inning after stealing third base and coming home on a wild pitch.

The Rafters, who entered the game 0-3, were scoreless until the third inning, when second baseman Jordan Tackett slugged a homerun into right field. There was more of the same in the fourth when Evan Stermer and Tyler Camps piled on with back-to-back homers, scoring four runs in the inning. But the Bombers surged back in the seventh and eighth, scoring pairs of runs in each, with RBI credits going to Ryne Otis (3), and Dan Dispensa in his first game of 2011.

Neither team scored in the ninth, and the Bombers scored the game-winning runs when Rhett Goodmiller singled into right and Otis crossed when Goodmiller intentionally got himself in a rundown.

The series will conclude tomorrow with a 1:05 contest, and afterwards the Bombers will drive east for a trio of games with the Green Bay Bullfrogs. Fans can listen to live broadcasts online at www.battlecreekbombers.com, with Greg Talbott calling the action.