To end a season series that has been completely one-sided, the Eau Claire Express offense battered and bruised the Alexandria Blue Anchors Friday night with an 18-11 victory to improve to 8-0 against the Anchors this season.
Nobody bullied around the host team more than shortstop Peter Van Gansen Friday. The Cal Poly sophomore tied an Express team record with six RBIs with one of them being his first home run of the year. The Northwoods League named him its Player of the Night.
But he wasn't the only one hitting.
Every person in the Express lineup scored at least one run while eight had hits and eight had RBIs.
Van Gansen, Lane Milligan, Daniel Salters and Brian Mundell all had three hits while Salters and Mundell joined Van Gansen in the home run column. It was the sixth roundtripper for both players this season, which gives them the team lead.
Six seemed to be the number of the night for the Express. They scored six runs in both the third and sixth innings to put away the Blue Anchors for good.
The 18 runs and 16 hits were both season highs.
Travis Neubeck earned the win on the mound for the orange and black.
The Express stayed pace atop the North Division with the win as they remain 1.5 games back of first-place Willmar.
Eau Claire will start a pivotal series at St. Cloud tomorrow night starting at 6:05 p.m. at Joe Faber Stadium.