Eau Claire 4, Wisconsin 1
The Eau Claire Express tied to South Division playoff series at 1-1 with their 4-1 win over the Wisconsin Woodchucks in a game that featured nine hits. The Express received a fantastic pitching performance from Ian Campbell (Corpus Christi) who only allowed three hits in 8.0 innings of work. The 6’5’’ righty from Glendale, AZ shut down a Woodchucks offense that finished 2nd in the NWL with a .270 batting average.
The first five innings saw very little offense, but Eau Claire’s Drew Heithoff (Augustana) scored on a Steven McGuiggan (Illinois-Chicago) single in the 6th. Eau Claire tacked on two more runs in the 8th and one in the 9th to take the 4-0 lead going in to the bottom of the 9th inning. The Woodchucks would put up a fight, but only could muster one run as Travis Whitmore (Pittsburgh) hit a solo home run off of Drew Freie (Des Moines CC).
Jason Martyn (Rio Hondo) took the loss although he only allowed two hits thru 5.2 innings. Nathan Orf (Illinois-Chicago) was 1-for-3 with two RBI while Drew Heithoff scored two runs.
The Woodchucks travel back to Eau Claire for game three of the series at Carson Park. The Express and ‘Chucks will begin Thursday night at 6:35 PM.
Rochester 5, St. Cloud 2
The Rochester Honkers swept the St. Cloud River Bats 2-0 as they beat the River Bats at Joe Faber Field in extra innings. The Honkers and River Bats were tied at 2-2 after the 6th inning, but neither team could get on the board until the Honkers scored three in the 12th.
The Honkers put up three runs in the top of the 12th when Davy Wright (Texas Christian) hit a solo shot to break the 2-2 tie. Dan Pellegrino (Cal Riverside) would later score on a wild pitch and Andrew Mendenhall (Oregon) scored the 5th run for the Honkers on a fielder’s choice.
The River Bats committed four errors on the night while the Honkers only committed one. St. Cloud first basemen Kris Kwak had two hits in the loss for the River Bats. Chris Elder (Oral Roberts) had two hits on the night and a stolen base.
The Honkers will take on the winner of tomorrow night’s South Division game between Eau Claire and Wisconsin at Carson Park. The Championship Series will begin Friday night.