Thunder Bay, Ont.- The Express (16-9 Second Half, 31-30 Overall) started off this three-day road trip with a 7-6 loss at the hands of the Thunder Bay Border Cats (10-14 Second Half, 23-26 Overall) on Monday night.
Eau Claire starter Manny Castellano (University of the Cumberlands) (1-0) was roughed up for six earned runs on six hits through four innings. Struggling with his command throughout the night, the left-handed Castellano issued four walks over 24 batters faced.
Reliever Craig Colen (Cal Poly) was handed the loss after allowing the winning run to score on a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Colen tossed four innings, striking out five while surrendering four base hits.
Left fielder Zach Ashford (Fresno State) led the way offensively for the Express with a double and a triple while driving in one and coming around to score twice.
Eau Claire will face Thunder Bay again tomorrow before heading to Duluth to kick off a home-and-home series with the Huskies. Luke Eldred (Dallas Baptist) (3-2) will get the start for the Express Tuesday night, coming off a complete game shutout of the Willmar Stingers back on July 26th.
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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.