Just one night after opening their first home stand of the season with a win over Mankato, Eau Claire dropped Sunday’s rematch against the MoonDogs by a score of 2-1.

In the top of the 9^th, Express reliever Austin George surrendered a run on a double that gave Mankato the 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Eau Claire got a runner on base via a hit batter but failed to bring him in after MoonDogs closer Joesph Gerber induced a 1-6-3 double play to end the ballgame.

Express starting pitcher Luke Eldred threw eight innings of one-run ball yet ended up with the no decision after leaving the game with score tied at 1-1. Eldred, the younger sibling to former Express pitcher CJ Eldred, only recorded 2 strikeouts in his outing, but did a fantastic job of stopping Mankato’s from squaring up his pitches.

Driving in the only run of the night for Eau Claire was Jake Moebius, a pitcher by trade lined up in RF as the Express continue to field an undermanned squad.

The team hits the road for Waterloo, where they’ll face off against the Bucks at 6:35 PM. Ethan Nichols will start the game on the bump, making his second start for Eau Claire this season. The lefty from Air Force tossed six shut out innings in the team’s season opener against Bismark, striking out two and walking one on his way to receiving a no decision.

The Eau Claire Express are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.eauclaireexpress.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Express as your favorite team.