Eau Claire, Wis. – The Express stalled the Minnesota Mud Puppies with incomparable pitching to leave Minnesota scoreless in a 12-0 victory Tuesday night.
The Trains entered Carson Park following a 1-1 series tie with the La Crosse Loggers. The series started with an 11-5 victory over the Loggers, but the Trains were unable to keep the momentum going and fell 6-5 following a walk-off home run.
The loss may have slowed down the Express, but it didn’t derail the Trains’ momentum heading into their matchup with the Mud Puppies. The 12-0 victory marks the Trains’ 10th victory of the second half of the regular season.
Starting strong offensively, the Express secured four runs early in the first half with Anthony Martinez hitting a single to left field to bring home Cade Palkowski, followed by CJ Varsho crossing home plate after a putout on Sawyer Stein’s base hit.
Earning their first error of the night, the Mud Puppies shortstop lost Jake Busson’s hit, leading to Hollon Brock and Stein crossing home plate off the error for a 4-0 lead.
The Express’s lead only continued to grow as Brock once again made it home off of an Adam Salazar RBI single to shortstop in the third inning.
Followed by three runs in the fourth inning after Stein hit his first home run of the season near left field, bringing home three for an 8-0 lead.
With eight not being enough, the Trains secured another run in the bottom of the fifth with Matthew Maulik hitting a single to right field, bringing home Busson.
Needing a break, Eau Claire went two innings without a run before a dominant eighth inning sealed its victory, as the Trains secured three more runs to top their total score at 12 runs on 12 hits and one error.
Despite a driving offense, the Express’s defense was led by none other than Mike Erspamer, who took the mound for six innings, only allowing one hit in the top of the fifth inning due to an error on the third baseman.
Erspamer ended the night walking one batter, dishing out 10 strikeouts, one wild pitch with a WHIP of 0.30, allowing the Mud Puppies to end the game with zero runs on two hits and four errors.
The Trains will continue to face the Mud Puppies for the second game of their two-game series in Carson Park at 6:35 p.m. Thursday.
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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.
