Eau Claire, WI – The Eau Claire Express (2-0) are Great Plain East Subdivision Champions after completing the sweep of the Waterloo Bucks (0-2). The Express took an early lead and never looked back in the 7-0 victory.
Lakeland University Postgame Recap
Eau Claire began with a bang in the bottom of the 1st inning. The Express sent 12 batters to the plate and scored 6 runs. The bases quickly loaded on singles from Cole Cabrera (Cal Poly) and Zach Gilles (Central Michigan) and a walk from Matt Bottcher (Illinois-Chicago). Red hot David LaManna (Notre Dame) slashed a two RBI single to plate Cabrera and Gilles. Nick Marinconz (Cal Poly) walked to reload the bases. Bottcher scored on a Brandon Dieter (Stanford) sacrifice fly and LaManna came in on a wild pitch. After a mound visit, Sam Kohnle (Winona State) walked. Cabrera came up for his second time in the inning and drove in Marinconz on an RBI single. The final run, Kohnle, came in on a bases loaded walk.
The Express added one more run in the 2nd inning to bring the score to the final of 7-0. LaManna was hit by a pitch and Marinconz walked. LaManna came around to score on a two-base error by the Bucks shortstop.
Craig Colen was terrific in his start. The junior from Cal Poly went 6.2 scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and walked two. Colen recorded six strikeouts. Paul Petit (Minnesota-Duluth) finished the final 2.1 innings and did not give up a hit or walk while striking out 4.
Playoff baseball will return to Carson Park on Wednesday, August 14th for the Great Plains Championship Series. The Express will take on the Willmar Stingers with a 6:35 pm first pitch. Tickets to Wednesday’s home game at Carson Park can be purchased HERE.
Click HERE and use promo code KT5GameExp for a special ticket package. For $15 dollars this ticket package includes a grandstand ticket to the game and a 90-minute buffet of food and beverage at the game. See you at 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 and set the Express as your favorite team.