In their 10th meeting of the season, the Express and Huskies match-up lived up to the hype and some.

The Express wasted no time getting things going offensively, Dylan Knowles hit a lead-off homerun off of Payton Jeffries. The Huskies made a push in the bottom half of the inning trying to match Eau Claire but they left the bases loaded as Ethan Thomas got the Express out of the jam.

Jake Busson led off the 2nd with a single for the Express. The next batter Davis Rivers launched one over the right field fence to give the Express a 3-0 lead. However, the offensive attack was not over for Eau Claire. Brady Blake hit a one-out single. Dylan Knowles would follow that up with a walk. Then the All-Star Brigs Richartz smacked a bases-clearing double to give the Express a 5-0 lead. A soft ground out advanced Richartz to third, as Ethan Farris would drive in Richartz. Isaac Rohde would come in as relief for Jeffries and got the final out of the inning.

After a pair of scoreless innings by both teams, the Huskies finally got their offense going in the bottom of the 4th. Ethan Cole, Jake Downing, and Jayden Duplantier all reached on 3 straight walks, Reagan Reeder was able to drive in a run on a fielder’s choice. The next batter in the 9 spot Cal Elvis punished the Express with a 2-out double that scored Reeder and Downing.

Both pitchers shined in the 5th as Rohde tossed 2 strikeouts and only faced 4 batters. As Zach Diver sent the Huskies 3 up and 3 down.

Ethan Cole led off the inning with a single and he advanced to third off of a bunt from Duplantier and a throwing error on the Express. Reagan Reeder was able to drive home Cole with a single up the middle the cut Eau Claire’s lead 4-6.

As Isaac Rohde continued his dominance through the 7th, the Huskies’ offense got going quickly as Tyler Palmer and Charlie Sutherland both got hit by a pitch. Those were followed by 2 singles by Joe Vos and Ethan Cole. Cole’s was good enough to score Palmer cutting the lead to just one. With the bases loaded Jayden Duplantier drew a walk on a full count to tie up the game 6-6.

Isaac Rohde added two more strikeouts to his total as he put up another zero in the 8th for the Huskies. On the flip side for Eau Claire Carl Cano sent the Huskies packing 3 up and 3 down.

It was all tied up going into the 9th and Rohde continued his dominance against the top of the Express order. Rohde fired 2 strikeouts in the 9th bringing his total to 10 K’s on the day. Which doubles Rohde’s career high for strikeouts in a game.

As we turned to the Huskies’ side of the inning Duluth’s own Charlie Sutherland led things off with a triple off of the right field fence. Then his hometown counterpart Joe Vos completed the comeback as the Huskies win a thriller 7-6 going into the All-Star break.