Mankato, Minn. \u2013 An early 5-0 deficit was too much for the MoonDogs to overcome, as Eau Claire jumped out to the five run lead after two, and held on for a 6-3 win Friday evening at Franklin Rogers Park.<\/p>\n
Leadoff man Robbie Knight (Creighton) was the catalyst all night for the Express (23-15, 2-6), finishing 2-3 with two runs and two RBI. He also clubbed a double and a home run, his second of the year, and also added two walks.<\/p>\n
The Dogs out-hit the Express 10-8 and were led by KC Serna (Oregon) and Kyle Knudson (Minnesota) who had three hits apiece. Jimmy Patterson (Arizona State) added his team-leading fourth home run and Cody Fick (Evansville) also had an RBI.<\/p>\n
Zach Whitman (Georgia Southwestern) started on the hill for the Dogs and was tagged for four runs in the first. Jason Ganek (Illinois-Chicago) brought home the first run with an RBI single which was followed by a first-and-third double steal that scored Nolan Fadness (UW-Oshkosh) for a 2-0 lead. <\/p>\n
Brooks Pinckard (Baylor) brought home the third Express run with a single and the fourth came around on an error by Taylor Black (Kentucky) on a soft popup to shallow right.<\/p>\n
Whitman (3-3) lasted just two and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on four hits while walking three for the MoonDogs (26-14, 3-4). <\/p>\n
After Knight\u2019s solo shot in the second, the Express bats remained silent until he came up big again. His line-drive double to the right center gap after the Dogs cut the lead to two gave his squad a three-run lead, stealing the momentum back from the MoonDogs.<\/p>\n
Tyler Bremer (UC-Davis) earned the win (1-0) for Eau Claire, throwing six innings and striking out five. Pinckard came in from first base in the ninth to record his first save of the year.<\/p>\n
The two squads will wrap up their season series tomorrow at Franklin Rogers Park. First pitch from the Frank will be at 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mankato, Minn. \u2013 An early 5-0 deficit was too much for the MoonDogs to overcome, as Eau Claire jumped out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n