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Traverse City, MI – The Eau Claire Express (3-1) took an early lead but could not hold the Traverse City Pit Spitters (4-0) off in the Northwoods League Championship Game. In a nail-biting and exciting game to the very last pitch, the Express could not finish things out as they fell by a 3-2 final.
Lakeland University Postgame Recap
Right away the Express jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning. The fans donning burnt orange cheered loudly and rang their cowbells as back-to-back singles from Zach Gilles (Central Michigan) and Matt Bottcher (Illinois-Chicago) put two runners on with just one out. Sam Kohnle (Winona State) came up with the big 2 RBI single to drive in both Gilles and Bottcher.
The Pit Spitters put one on the board in the bottom of the 5th inning on a walk, a sac bunt, and a sacrifice fly.
The 2-1 lock and Express lead continued until the bottom of the 9th inning. After two leadoff walks, and a hit, two Eau Claire errors allowed Traverse City to come driving back to with 3-2 on a walk off error.
The entire Eau Claire Express Organization would like to extend their gratitude to the greatest fan base in the Northwoods League. We have the absolute best fans in the Northwoods League, and we cannot thank each and every one of you enough for your support this season. We cannot do any of it without you! Stay tuned on the Express website and social media for continued coverage of the offseason.
#AllAboard
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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.
