Eau Claire, Wis. –  The Eau Claire Express continues to lead the Great Plains Division as they seal a 6-2 victory over the Rochester Honkers, sweeping their two-game series Sunday afternoon.

Following a 16-7 dominant victory, stemming from six home runs that marked a new franchise record, the Express continued to set new achievements against the Honkers. As the four-run advantage win was brought on by Stanford pitcher Quinten Marsh, who dished out 10 total strikeouts, and marked the Express pitching staff’s 500th strikeout of the season, while on the mound, the team now averages 10.25 strikeouts per game.

Despite coming in with a sense of momentum after the dominating win, the Express were shocked when the Honkers secured a home run off the first pitch of the ball game. Despite the surprise, the Express came back and responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first inning.

Starting with Hollon Brock up to bat and was dished a pitch that was a little too far, leading to Cade Palkowski stealing third base and CJ Varsho stealing second base. Brock hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Palkowski to tie up the game. However, the Trains could not be stopped as an Honkers third baseman was faced with an error when Sawyer Stein was up to bat, allowing Varsho to run home for a 2-1 lead.

The momentum for the Express kept flowing not only from Marsh, who dished out seven strikeouts in a row, but the Trains secured three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to ensure their lead. This was done by Jake Busson, hitting a home run near left field, bringing home three runs, marking his fifth home run of the season and 22nd RBI, securing a 5-2 lead over the Honkers.

For just one more finishing touch, the Trains added one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning after another third baseman error gave Rock the advancement to first base while he was up to bat, followed by Mikey Muniz running home after an overthrown ball on the Honker’s left fielder.

Eau Claire brought in two more pitchers to close out the game, Brock Adamson and Zach Peters, who combined for three strikeouts, overall helping limit the Honkers to two runs on five hits and three errors. Compared to the Trains’ six runs on five hits and zero errors.

Securing the two-game series sweep at home, the Express will head back on the road to take on the Waterloo Bucks in a four-game series, starting with a doubleheader at 12:35 p.m. and 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.