Thunder Bay, ON – The Eau Claire Express (11-7, 30-24) finished the Thunder Bay series with a split on Tuesday night after falling to the Thunder Bay Border Cats (4-14, 18-35). The high scoring, offensive driven game ended as the Cats won 11-8.
Lakeland University Postgame Recap
The Border Cats were the first to get on the board tonight as they took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st on two hits.
After taking a while for the offense to start, the Express plated 3 runs in the top of the 3rd inning. Cole Cabrera (Cal Poly) walked and advanced to 2nd on Brock Burton’s (Grand Canyon) single. Matt Bottcher’s (Illinois-Chicago) RBI double was the highlight of the inning, scoring Cabrera. Burton crossed home later in the inning on a wild pitch and Bottcher on an error by the Border Cats catcher.
Thunder Bay quickly responded, matching the 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning to take a 4-3 lead. They added on to their lead in the bottom of the 5th inning, scoring two runs on four hits to go up 6-3.
Eau Claire’s offense began again in the top of the 6th. Sam Kohnle (Winona State), Brandon Dieter (Stanford), and Sam Stonskas (Blackhawk CC) all singled to load the bases. Cabrera laced an RBI single to score Kohnle, and Stonskas came in on a wild pitch. The Border Cats came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the 6th to make it a 7-5 ballgame.
The Express scored a run in each of the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. In the 7th, Bottcher singled and then stole second base. He scored on an error by the Border Cats pitcher. During the 8th inning, Dieter reached on a single and moved to second on an error. He advanced to third on a sacrifice hit and scored on a bases loaded walk. Finally, in the top of the 9th, Kohnle singled and was plated on Dieters RBI double.
The Border Cats added one run in the 7th and three runs in the 8th to secure an 11-8 victory.
Craig Colen (Cal Poly) took the loss for the Express after going 3.0 innings and giving up four runs on five hits and two walks. Jonathan Worley (Stanford) went 2.0 innings of relief and gave up two runs on five hits. Tim Ewald (Dallas Baptist) entered for an inning of work and allowed two runs on four walks but did not allow a hit. Rece Finck (Illinois-Springfield) finished the last 2.0 innings, with three runs scoring during his time on the mound.
After a league wide off day on Wednesday, July 24th, the Express return home on Thursday, July 25th. The Waterloo Bucks will be in town for a 6:35 pm first pitch. “Outside the sun is shining and friends are calling “yoo-hoo!” Join us as we celebrate Christmas in July at Carson Park!
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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 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). 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.