Eau Claire, WI- With Jake Sommers (UW-Milwaukee) (1-1) on the mound for the Express in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game, Drew Avans (Southeastern Louisiana) of the St. Cloud Rox (3-6 Second Half, 28-16 Overall) singled home his teammate Michael Busch (North Carolina) to walk-off Eau Claire 5-4.
Ryan Zimmerman (St. Thomas) (1-2) started this one on the mound for the Express, allowing four earned runs over six innings while receiving the no decision. Zimmerman struck out four while walking just one, showing improvement upon the four-walk, four-strikeout performance in his last start.
Eau Claire backstop Matt Duce (Dallas Baptist) stayed hot in this one, contributing two of the team’s five hits on the night. Duce also drove in the tying-run in the seventh when he doubled home Zach Ashford to bring the score to four apiece.
Since joining Express back on July 6th, Duce has hit .367 with a .444 on-base percentage in his first 30 at-bats. The Arizona native has also brought some much-needed pop to the middle of Eau Claire’s batting order, knocking three doubles and two homers already in limited action at the catcher and designated hitter spots.
Tomorrow the Express will face the Rox in St. Cloud once again in what will be the final meeting between the two teams until August 10th. Friday night’s contest is scheduled to begin at 7:05 PM, as Eau Claire will look to put an end to their two-game losing streak.
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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 180 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.