After the Waterloo Bucks had come back on the Express five different times this year, Eau Claire finally returned the favor.
The Express fell behind 1-0 early but came back to score six unanswered runs in a 6-1 win at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa.
And it was all behind perhaps the best pitching performance of the year as CJ Eldred went the distance, going all nine innings while giving up the one run, five hits and striking out one, relying on his defense to get the job done. They did just that by committing zero errors. It only took 78 pitches for Eldred to get through nine innings, an almost unheard of statline.
Eau Claire scored three runs in the top of the fifth as Peter Van Gansen scored Brent Gibbs on a single, Jack Zoellner scored on an error off the bat of Jeff Hendrix and Mike Barajas scored on a double play ball.
Van Gansen continued his hot hitting by singling in Barajas in the top of the seventh, and the orange and black scored twice more in the top of the ninth as Van Gansen singled in Barajas again while scoring on a Hendrix RBI groundout.
Eldred's performance is the first complete game of the year for the Express.
Eau Claire returns to action tomorrow for a special Fourth of July game at Carson Park, sponsored by Infinity Golf. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. with the city's fireworks show set to follow the action.