Eau Claire, Wisc. – Mateo Gray (Central Florida) pitched a complete game, three-hit shutout to lead the La Crosse Loggers over the host Eau Claire Express by a final score of 6-0 on Monday night at Carson Park.<\/p>\n
Gray locked horns with Eau Claire starter Cohen Gomez (Stanford) in a classic pitchers duel out of the gates as both pitchers kept the other teams’ bats at bay through the first four innings of a scoreless game.<\/p>\n
The Lumbermen broke through in the fifth though after Mikey Ryan (LSU) singled,\u00a0 stole second and third, and eventually came in to score on a Max Kalk (Ball State) RBI single.<\/p>\n
La Crosse would strike again in the sixth when RJ Hamilton (Vanderbilt) singled to start the frame and eventually crossed home plate on a Carson Ohland (Grand Canyon) sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n
The game would get blown open in the seventh when the Loggers would score three times on five hits and then they’d tack on one more in the eighth to go up 6-0 which was more than enough for Gray.<\/p>\n
The right-hander from Central Florida was in command from start to finish, ending the night by only throwing 92 pitches over his nine innings of work and limiting Eau Claire to just three hits.\u00a0 Gray walked two and struck out seven to improve to 2-0 on the season.<\/p>\n
The Logger offense tallied 14 hits on the night, led by a three-hit night from Kalk and two-hit nights from Brayden Jefferis (Michigan), Hamilton and Ryan.<\/p>\n
With the win the Loggers improved to 21-8 while Eau Claire fell to 11-17.<\/p>\n
The four-game series will continue on Tuesday night as it moves to the friendly confines of Copeland Park for a 6:35 pm first pitch with gates opening at 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n