Eau Claire, WI – The Express were back at home in the flip-flopping home and away series vs. La Crosse. This time they could not pull out the win in this contest, losing 6-9.
It was all Express early on, as they owned a fairly commanding lead. Through 6, things were clicking for Eau Claire as they led the Loggers 6-3. Their 6 runs were scored in a variety of ways.
Freddy Rodriguez (Cal Poly) was sent out to start on the hill for the Express, and after giving up 2 in the first, he found his groove. Through 5 innings, he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits, with a smooth 7 strikeouts. As Rodriguez inched closer to the pitch count limit of 100 on the night, the Express called on reliever Caden MacDonald (Michigan).
MacDonald struggled in his second inning of work, giving up 5 runs. 3 of the 5 came on a Danny Neri grand slam into the short porch in right field. Tanner Sagouspe (Cal Poly) finished out the game for Eau Claire, but couldn’t get any late-game help from the bats of the Express offense.
Early game runs were prevalent, on the other hand. Dylan O’Connell (WKU), Rayth Petersen (UIC), and Ryan Nagelbach (UIC) all had multi-hit nights. Petersen and O’Connell combined to drive in all 6 of the runs of the ballgame, with 4 coming off the bat of Petersen. 1 of O’Connell’s perfect-hitting night shots was a home run over the left field wall. This homer was his 6th of the year, putting him in 2nd place behind Nagelbach for Express home runs.
The Trains will be back in La Crosse Sunday for the final game of their 4-game series vs. the Loggers. First pitch will come at 6:35 pm CT and will be streamed on the Northwoods League website. You can also follow along with the action on 106.7 FM-Moose Country, with commentator Noah Schwartz. Follow along to see if the Express can split the series with their division rival!
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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 Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its’ 30th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 24 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 325 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (NYM), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com and on ESPN+. 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.
