{"id":22093,"date":"2026-06-14T17:43:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T22:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/eau-claire-express\/?p=22093"},"modified":"2026-06-14T17:43:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T22:43:25","slug":"express-send-border-cats-packing-with-series-clinching-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/eau-claire-express\/2026\/06\/14\/express-send-border-cats-packing-with-series-clinching-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Express send Border Cats packing with series-clinching win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Eau Claire, Wis.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 Slow and steady wins the race as the Trains took the lead in the sixth inning and stayed strong to secure a 7-4 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats Sunday night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eau Claire Express Postgame Recap:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coming off a 4-1 victory the day before over Thunder Bay, the Express stayed strong, coming back to win the series with a dominant 7-4 victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having the same start with the Border Cats securing the first run of the night with Manny Alberto hitting a double to center field, bringing home Jorge Valdes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Express went through three scoreless innings, securing another run at the top of the fourth inning to secure a 2-0 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, the Trains doubled back, securing their first run of the game at the bottom of the fourth inning due to Cade Palkowski stealing home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Quickly after, in the fifth inning, the Express secured another run due to Sean Cody up to bat and hitting a double, followed by Mikey Muniz\u2019s own double, bringing home Cody to tie the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the sixth inning, the Border Cats took their lead back with a Hayden Crites home run. However, the Trains finally took the lead, securing two runs in the bottom of the sixth with a wild pitch thrown to Tommy Hanger at bat, leaving Palkowski the opportunity to steal home. Hanger followed the wild pitch up with a single to left field, bringing home Anthony Martinez.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finding their offensive momentum, the Trains secured three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Starting with CJ Varsho stealing home on a wild pitch thrown to Martinez at bat. Shortly after, Busson earned an advancement to home plate after a pitch hit Cody.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The final run earned was by Palkowski, who crossed home plate due to Muniz being walked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thunder Bay secured one more run at the top of the eighth inning by Crities crossing home after Ayden Hadley hit a single to center field; however, it wasn&#8217;t enough, leaving the Border Cats to return to Canada with two losses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eau Claire will continue its momentum at home as the team takes on the La Crosse Loggers at 6:35 p.m. Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">##<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">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 27<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> 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 <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/portal.stretchinternet.com\/nwl\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Northwoods League portal<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For more information, visit <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eauclaireexpress.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">www.eauclaireexpress.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or Google Play and set the Booyah as your favorite team.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eau Claire, Wis. \u2013 Slow and steady wins the race as the Trains took the lead in the sixth inning  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-league-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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