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Eau Claire, WI- Dropping their first game since July 20th, the Express (15-8 Second Half, 30-29 Overall) had their nine-game winning streak snapped by the Willmar Stingers (15-8 Second Half, 33-26 Overall) by a score of 7-1 on Saturday night at Carson Park.
Express starter Gerry Salisbury (Ohio) (4-2) lasted just four and a third innings in this one, picking up second loss of the season after being charged with six earned runs. The left-handed Salisbury was roughed up for seven hits, including two doubles and triple while walking two and striking out one.
Pitching in relief while Eau Claire trailed by a substantial amount, Travis Berg (UM Duluth) made his triumphant return to Carson Park by tossing three scoreless innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames. Berg, an Eau Claire native, was with the Express at the start of this season on a temporary contract, but was just re-added to the active roster earlier this week.
The Express offense was mostly dormant in this one, putting together just three hits on the night. After pushing across the tying run on four walks and an RBI groundout by first baseman Kyle Marinconz (Cal Poly) in the first inning to make it 1-1, Eau Claire’s bats would reach base a combined six times from the second frame on.
With the loss, the Express fall into a three-way tie atop the second half standings in the North Division with the Stingers and the Mankato MoonDogs.
Eau Claire and Willmar will be back at Carson Park Sunday afternoon for their final matchup of the 2017 regular season. Tomorrow’s game is slated to begin a 5:05 PM with the probable pitchers for both teams remaining unannounced.
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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.
