Eau Claire, Wis. – The Eau Claire Express kicked off their 2022 campaign against the La Crosse Loggers at historical Carson Park. An exciting day ended in unfortunate fashion with the Express falling to the Loggers by the score of 5-2.

The starting pitchers saw mixed success for the two squads. Eau Claire’s Jack Brown (Mankato State) struggled in his first outing of the year, allowing four runs on five hits in three innings of work. Eddie Barry (Swarthmore) found his footing quickly, recording 5 strikeouts over 5.2 innings while only giving up two runs.

The Express’ first runs of the season were produced by Reed Latimer (Montevallo) when he sent a sac fly deep enough to score Charlie Szykowny (UW-Stout) in the 1st inning. The Eau Claire bats were quiet for the rest of the game with the only other run coming from a bases-loaded walk by Josh Robinson (Alma) in the 6th.

The Loggers bats struck early as they scored all 5 of their runs in the first four frames including a three-run 2nd inning. Emilio Corona (Arizona) and Blaise Priester (LSU) sent balls over the left-field fence for the only two homers of the game. Zac Rice (Chipola College) contributed two hits and two RBIs in the winning effort.

One bright spot for the Express was pitcher Jared Lessman (Iowa Western CC). The product of St. Croix Falls, WI registered a whopping nine strikeouts in four innings of relief work.

The Express will look to bounce back against the Loggers in La Crosse tomorrow at 6:35 (CT).