Eau Claire, WI- The Express (9-13) followed up their dominant eight-run pounding of the Rochester Honkers (11-12) with a three-hit performance in Thursday’s 6-1 loss to Rochester.
Honkers starter Ethan Mathis (2-3) weaved together an absolute gem of a pitching performance, tossing seven innings of one-run ball against an Eau Claire lineup that had been blazing hot over their past three games. Striking out eight Express hitters, Mathis was able to keep Eau Claire’s offense guessing all night, en route to earning his second win of the season.
On the other side, Express starter Lane Ramsey ended up with the loss after lasting six and two-thirds innings. Giving up three runs on seven hits before reliever Jake Moebius took over in the seventh.
Down by a score of 3-1 in the eighth, Moebius would surrender three additional runs to the Honkers, official putting the nail in the coffin on a potential Express comeback.
Recording the team’s only hit through the first eight frames, Eau Claire shortstop Justin Evans would also score the only Express run of the night after he came home on a throwing error by Rochester catcher Chris Ceballos.
Beau Capanna and Rudy Rott each hit singles in the ninth off of Rochester reliever Kyle Ferderer, bringing Eau Claire’s final hit total to three.
The loss dropped the Express to 9-13 here in the first half of the Northwoods League season, placing them seven games back of the division-leading St. Cloud Roxx.
Friday will see the Express travel out to Rochester for the third game of this four-act series with the Honkers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM, with Luke Eldred (0-0) set to make the start for Eau Claire.
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.