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Eau Claire, WI- It was the night of the single at Carson Park Monday night as the Express (7-12) notched 20 singles in a decisive 11-1 win over the La Crosse Loggers (7-14).
In what was easily the most dominant victory of the season for Eau Claire, the Express bats put together the kind of performance of a squad rearing to breakout after their collectively sluggish start at the plate this year. Each batter in the Eau Claire order reached base at least once, keeping the line moving constantly as they buried the Loggers with a plethora of one-baggers.
When a team combines for 21 hits and 11 runs, it can be tough for an individual batter to stand out in a crowd of solid performances. However, Dominic Clementi was able to piece together arguably the best night of anyone in the Eau Claire lineup, going 3-5 with three RBI en route to being named Northwoods League Player of the Night.
Oddly enough, while Clementi went home with the NWL Player of the Night award, it was Express starting pitcher Ethan Nichols whom was named Player of the Game by the Carson Park press box following his dazzling evening on the bump. In his final appearance for Eau Claire this season (The Air Force sophomore returns to the Academy tomorrow along with fellow Falcons Nic Ready and Daniel Jones) Nichols put together a six-inning, zero earned run masterpiece, in which he struck out seven and earned the win.
The only extra base hit on the night for the Express was a triple, legged out by none other than first baseman Rudy Rott, one of his three hits in the win.
Some of Eau Claire’s other noteworthy offensive lines were produced by Luke Bandy (3-6, 2 R), Nic Ready (4-4, 3 R), and Zach Gilles (4-5, 1 R), whom raised his NWL-leading batting average up to .477.
The Express will continue their two-game tussle with the Loggers tomorrow in La Crosse at 7:05 PM. Aaron Shortridge is scheduled to make his first start of the season on the mound for Eau Claire on Tuesday night after having pitched three innings of relief for the team thus far.
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.
