Playoff Update

After sweeping the Waterloo Bucks in a best-of-two game series over the course of Monday and Tuesday night the Express will now play for the Great Plains Championship Wednesday evening at Carson Park at 6:35 against the Willmar Stingers.

The Express won a nail bitter in Waterloo on Monday against the Bucks, besting the team from Iowa by a score of 2-1. David LaManna (Notre Dame) drove in Eau Claire’s only runs of the ballgame in the fourth with a two-RBI single and was a part the Express’s late-game heroic’s, applying the tag at the plate for the final out of the ballgame. Nick Alvarado (Illinois-Springfield) went 6.2 innings and picked up the win in a fantastic outing at Riverside Stadium.

In Game 2, battling the wind and rain at Carson Park on Tuesday evening, the Express rolled out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning while sending 12 batters to the plate. Adding a run in the second inning, Eau Claire controlled the rest of the contest with a Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night performance from Craig Colen (Cal Poly), who tossed 6.2 scoreless innings and allowing just two hits. The Express claimed the first-ever Great Plains East Sub-Division Championship with a final score of 7-0.

Playoff Format Update

All sub-divisional series were swept by their respective winners in the first round of the Northwoods League Playoffs. The Great Plains and Great Lakes Championship games will all be single game series.

The Great Plains championship will be contested by the Eau Claire Express and Willmar Stingers at Carson Park Wednesday evening at 6:35. Tickets to the game are available, HERE.

The Great Lakes Championship game will take place in Traverse City, Michigan tonight with the Pit Spitters hosting the Madison Mallards at 6:05.

The eventual Northwoods League Championship will be hosted by the winner of the Great Lakes division at a date and time to be determined.

Ticket Information

The Express were lifted by our fantastic crowd at Carson Park on Tuesday and need Express Nation to cheer them on again tonight! Tickets to Wednesday’s home game at Carson Park can be purchased HERE and also at the Carson Park box office.

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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.