Eau Claire, WI – The Eau Claire Express (13-8, 32-25) jumped out to a large, early lead over the Mankato MoonDogs (12-9, 27-30). As the game progress, the MoonDogs fought back and the Express had to fend them off for a 7-6 victory.
Lakeland University Postgame Recap
The Express were the first to strike in the first inning. Cole Cabrera (Cal Poly) led off with a walk. He advanced to second on a balk and stole third. He scored on an error by the MoonDogs catcher. Mankato answered in the next half, scoring a run of their own in the top of the 2nd to tie the game at 1-1.
The 4th inning saw 4 Eau Claire runs. Nick Marinconz (Cal Poly) singled and moved to third on a Vincent Martinez (Stanford) single. Sam Stonskas (Blackhawk CC) hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Cabrera followed with a walk to load the bases. Brock Burton (Grand Canyon) came up big once again as he cleared the bases with a 3 RBI triple to put the Express up 5-1.
After Mankato plated a run in the top of the 5th, Eau Claire came up with their own in the bottom half. David LaManna (Notre Dame) absolutely crushed a moon shot over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.
The 6th inning was silent, but the 7th had 3 MoonDogs runs. Eau Claire also scored in the frame. Bases loaded on walks from Matt Bottcher (Illinois-Chicago), LaManna, and Zach Gilles (Central Michigan). Martinez hit an RBI single to plate Bottcher.
Mankato added one more run in the 8th but were shut down as the 7-6 score held as the final.
Eau Claire native, Tanner Kohlhepp, got the start for the Trains and tossed 4.0 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks. Kuster Kinlecheenie (Montevallo) earned the win after going 3.0 innings and allowing 4 runs on 4 hits. Alec Baker (Dallas Baptist) closed the door on the MoonDogs, throwing the final 2.0 scoreless innings and striking out 5.
The Express continues the homestand on Sunday afternoon with a 2:05 against the Mankato MoonDogs. Check out the game at Carson Park, receive a specialty poster and have it signed by today’s players and tomorrow’s MLB stars. Kids can also run the bases following the game!
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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.