Waterloo, IA- The Express (14-20) will be happy to head home after concluding a 1-4 stretch of road games by getting trounced 14-2 by the division-leading Waterloo Bucks (23-11).

Eau Claire starter Gerry Salisbury (2-1) picked his first loss of the season by giving up eight runs (seven of them earned) on nine hits and two walks. The Ohio junior saw his seasonal ERA jump from 1.39 to 4.77 in the bat of an eye, throwing just 78 pitches and facing 23 Waterloo batters before being lifted to begin the fifth. The reliever combination of Jack Wolger, Austin George and Justin Evans would about as much success on the mound as Salisbury, surrendering a total of six runs on eight walks and five hits.

For the second straight contest the Express offense was not substantially out-hit in a blowout loss. Trailing the Bucks just 10-13 in the column, the main discrepancy in production, once again, came from a lack of free passes drawn (1). Although they seldom found their way on to first via a base-on-balls, the Express managed to avoid going down via the K in this one, combining for just three strikeouts.

Waterloo received yet another brilliant outing from their starting pitcher Sunday night, as Missouri Baptist hurler Jared Crescentini permitted two Eau Claire runs to cross the plate over six and two-thirds innings. While Crescentini wasn’t dominant in the traditional sense, recording only three strike outs, he did play a large role in the Bucks’ anit-walk efforts, failing to allow a single Express hitter to reach on a fourth ball during his time on the bump.

Tonight’s loss was Eau Claire’s third in a row and dropped the team nine games back of first place in the North Division. A first-half championship is certainly out the question, and has been for some time now, but there is still light at the end of the tunnel for 2017’s Express squad as a second half championship or wild card birth remains very much in play.

Eau Claire will return to Carson Park tomorrow looking snap out of this recent skid in a 6:35 PM matchup with the Thunder Bay Border Cats. California product Aaron Shortridge (2-1) is penciled in to deliver the first pitch, having not allowed a run in his last 13 innings pitched.

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.