Eau Claire, Wisc. – It’s not often that you see a team outhit an opponent 15-8 and lose but that’s exactly what unfolded at Carson Park on Thursday night when the host Eau Claire Express were walk-off winners, defeating the visiting La Crosse Loggers 8-6.<\/p>\n
The Lumbermen struck on the first pitch of the game when RJ Hamilton (Duke) sent the first offering of the game from Walker Retz over the left field fence for a solo shot to put the Loggers up 1-0.<\/p>\n
Eau Claire responded quickly though with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first off of La Crosse starter Myles Dismute (Southern) to take a 2-1 lead after one complete inning.<\/p>\n
La Crosse would tie things up in the second frame thanks to a double from Max Kalk (Ball State) followed by singles from Aydin Wright (Central Michigan) and Justin Roulston (Long Beach State).<\/p>\n
The back-and-forth continued in the third inning when Eau Claire pushed one across to take a 3-2 lead on two hits and a miscue.<\/p>\n
The Loggers would load the bases in the top of the fourth with one out only to see the next three batters retired and leave them loaded, a trend that would be commonplace throughout the remainder of the game.<\/p>\n
La Crosse would breakthrough in the sixth inning and chase Retz from the game, scoring four times on six hits, to take a 6-3 lead.<\/p>\n
But Eau Claire would slowly chip away, scoring once in the bottom of the sixth and again in the seventh to cut the lead to 6-5.\u00a0 The score would remain there until the ninth.<\/p>\n
Loggers reliever Kassius Thomas (Stanford) would issue a lead-off walk to Cort McDonald before getting JJ Moran to line out to second baseman Ethan Edinger for the first out.\u00a0 A catcher’s interference would then put runners on first and second for Eau Claire before McGwire Turner would send a 1-1 offering over the right field fence for the walk-off, three-run homer to give Eau Claire the 8-6 victory.<\/p>\n
Hamilton and Kalk led the Loggers 15-hit attack, with each collecting three hits.\u00a0 Carson Ohland (Grand Canyon), Eli Small (Florida Atlantic) and Roulston would also add two hits apiece.<\/p>\n
With the loss, the Loggers fell to 9-13 in the second half and 31-24 overall.<\/p>\n
The series will now move to Copeland Park on Friday night where the two teams will play a doubleheader (2, 7-inning games) with the first game commencing at 5:05 p.m.<\/p>\n