La Crosse, Wis. – In a hot, long battle, Eau Claire took down the La Crosse Loggers 11-5 Sunday night in the first of a two-game series.

Now leading the Great Plains East with a six-game win streak, marking nine wins in the second half of the regular season, the Eau Claire Express now holds a 27-18 overall record.

In a similar fashion, the Eau Claire Express started the first inning on fire, playing to their strengths with Cade Palkowski starting the night off with a double to left field, then quickly brought home as CJ Varsho hit a groundout to second base.

The second run for the Trains rolled in quickly with Adam Salazar hitting a double to right field, bringing home Anthony Martinez and Jaxon Schumacher for a 3-0 lead.

Despite La Crosse responding with two runs of its own in the first inning, the Express continued to play with a newfound confidence as they slowly but surely continued to build their lead. Starting with Varsho, once again hitting a groundout to second base to bring home Landon Ubrig in the second inning.

Followed by Ubrig hitting a triple to left field, the second of the season for Eau Claire, bringing home Martinez and Salazar in the third inning, securing a 6-2 lead.

Taking a fourth-inning break, the Express went right back at it, adding one more run to its impending lead with La Crosse having two back-to-back errors, giving Martinez the chance to get on first base, then eventually home as Schumacher hit a single to left field, followed by an error on the catcher, for a 7-2 lead.

Holding the Loggers off until the sixth inning was starting Express pitcher Jesse Neretlis, who pitched six innings, striking out eight batters, allowing one walk and four hits. In Neretlis’s last inning on the mound, La Crosse secured another run to help close its deficit to 7-3.

With the Loggers still playing with hope, the Express took off once again in the eighth inning, finding offensive momentum and earning four runs to close out the game for the Trains. The momentum started with Ubrig crossing home plate after a Palkowski single to center field, followed by Varsho hitting a double to right field, bringing home two players.

The final run of the night for the Express was earned when Martinez hit a groundout to shortstop, marking out number two for the inning but allowing Varsho to run home for an 11-3 lead.

Still hoping to fight back, the Loggers earned themselves two more runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Quinten Marsh on the mound was ultimately no match for La Crosse. Closing out the game, Marsh dished out two strikeouts and allowed zero walks and six hits.

Eau Claire ended the night with 11 runs on 13 hits and three errors, with La Crosse securing five runs off of 10 hits and four errors.

The Trains will continue to face the Loggers for the second game of their two-game series in Copeland Park at 6:35 p.m. Monday.

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The Eau Claire Express is 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. Having completed its 27th season, the Northwoods 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 250 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 (WAS), 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 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB Gold Glove finalist and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. 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 Google Play and set the Booyah as your favorite team.