Eau Claire, Wis. – Trains fall short and lose momentum following a rain delay, giving Duluth a 4-2 victory Friday night.
Eau Claire Express Postgame Recap:
The Trains split their series with the Duluth Huskies after a 4-1 win on Thursday, but were unfortunately pulled down with a 4-2 loss.
Eau Claire earned the first run of the game with a home run by Anthony Martinez to secure a 1-0 lead. However, the offensive momentum secured by the homerun was quickly put on hold with a 48-minute weather delay.
Coming out of the weather delay, the Huskies secured their first run after Abe Ahlbery advanced to third off a wild pitch thrown by Hunter Guenther, and quickly stole home to tie up the game, 1-1.
The Trains quickly respond with a run of their own after Jaxon Schumacher hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Jake Busson.
However, the Express was silenced, facing 17 strikeouts and leaving multiple batters on base throughout the game. On the opposite side of the diamonds, the Huskies secured three runs in the seventh inning to secure their victory, with George McIntyre hitting a double to left field, bringing home Max Berrisford.
Due to pitching struggles, Dan Hardcastle was walked, bringing home Anthony Cepeda after he hit a single to center field to bring home Abe Ahlberg.
Despite out-hitting Duluth 9-6, the Trains could not capitalize on their multiple chances at bat and heavily relied on their defense, which also saw some struggles.
With Guenther at the mound, he only struck out three batters out of the 22 faced in five innings and walked four. Mike Erspamer, who made his Express debut, struggled as well, pitching for one inning and walking five players and giving up three runs.
Sam Malone closed out the pitching for the Express and secured a high of five strikeouts and only walked one player.
Despite having the bottom of the ninth inning to pull together a win, the Espress fell looking, abandoning bases loaded and securing a 4-2 loss.
Eau Claire will stay at home and take on the Willmar Stingers at 6:35 p.m. Saturday.
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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.
