Cody Glenn (LSU) shut down the Express bats while 3 Chinooks took their bats deep in a 9-2 blowout win over the Eau Claire Express Sunday afternoon.  Glen recorded season highs with 7 strike outs and 7 innings pitched while allowing only 1 run to pick up his third win of the summer.

“I was throwing 2 and 3 pitches for strikes.  I didn’t work my change-up in until later in the outing but when you get ahead of hitters that’s what happens,” commented Glenn on his performance this afternoon.

The Express struck early, but not often as they scored a single run in the top of the second inning.  Alex Real walked to lead off the inning, stole second and was advanced to third before coming home on a wild pitch.

Brian Anderson (Arkansas) got the scoreboard lit for the Chinooks with a first pitch solo home run in the second inning.  This was Anderson’s second long ball of the season; his first came in walk-off fashion in his Chinooks debut, July 6.  Scott Wilcox (Western Kentucky) also scored in the inning when Charlie Markson (Notre Dame) dropped an RBI single in the outfield gap.

With a 2-1 lead the Chinooks kept the scoring going for 3 consecutive innings as Anderson drove in Eric Aguilera (Illinois State) in the third with an RBI double. 

The Chinooks put base runner aboard in the fifth with Forrest Chadwick (Southern Maine) being hit by a pitch and Bre’ Kimbell (Louisiana Tech) drawing a walk.  Aguilera then logged his second hit of the game with an RBI single to left field to score Chadwick.  German Reyes (Winston Salem) followed with a home run of his own over the left-center fence to bring the score to 7-1. 

Express pitchers were chased early as starter Andrew Hendrick lasted only 3 innings before the bullpen was called in to finish out the game.  The bullpen didn’t fare any better as the Chinooks logged additional runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

Kimbell singled to lead off the sixth before being driven home by Anderson, who was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate.  The ninth and final run for the Chinooks came from catcher Connor Lynch (Georgia Tech) who took the first pitch thrown to him over the right field fence for his first home run of the season.  Lynch, who has been struggling at the plate this summer, is batting less than his body weight, but showed his potential today to be a power hitter as well.

“Connor’s been struggling at the plate recently but hopefully this is the pick-up he’s needed to get some quality hits together,” commented Assistant Coach Eddy Morgan.  “Most importantly is what he’s been able to do for us behind the plate and that’s where he’s been our biggest asset.”

The Express managed to tack on an additional run in the ninth off of Kevin Nutley (St. Norbert) who made his Chinooks debut.  Nutley owned a 2.64 ERA in 14 appearances for the Knights this past season.

The Chinooks take to the road for a brief series against La Crosse before returning home Wednesday and Thursday against the Battle Creek Bombers.