St. Cloud, MN- One night after pulling off a late-inning comeback, the St. Cloud Rox fell to the Eau Claire Express Saturday night after allowing six runs in the final three innings for a final score of 8-5 at Joe Faber Field. The Rox led by a run heading in to the seventh inning of Saturday night’s contest, but gave up two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth as the Express took game one of a two-game series, bringing St. Cloud’s record to 17-15 as they near the end of the first half of the season.

Nick Jensen-Clagg started on the mound for the Rox, going the first five innings and allowing four hits and one earned run as he struck out four in the process. The Rox got the scoring going in the second inning when Will Craig smacked a solo home run off Eau Claire starter Jeremy Bagnell for his second home run of the season.

The Rox scoring continued in the third inning as Craig drove in another run, this time bringing Chris Paul across, who singled earlier in the inning. The Express fought back with two of their own in the fourth and fifth innings off Jensen-Clagg to tie the game at two, before Dalton Sawyer came in for the sixth inning on the mound for the Rox.

The Rox got a run back in the bottom of the sixth with Kade Scivicque’s second home run of the season, but the Express answered back again with two runs in the seventh as Trevor Charpie came in to record the final out of the inning, but allowed two runners inherited from Sawyer to score to give the Express a one-run lead. Eau Claire added four more in the eighth inning off Rox relievers Charpie and Tyler Deel to make the score 8-3, before the Rox totaled two runs in the bottom of the inning as Scivicque scored on a single from Eric Loxtercamp and Kyle Thornell scored on a sacrifice fly from Seth Heck.

Chad Hockin pitched the final inning for the Rox and kept the score the same, but St. Cloud could not get any more runs in the ninth as the Express took the victory, 8-5. Craig finished the night 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored thanks to his second inning home run, and Chris Paul continued his offensive hot streak with two hits on the night, as did Scivicque and Loxtercamp as the Rox outhit the Express 10-8 in the game.

Tonight’s box score can be found at http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=210414.

The Rox will stay at Joe Faber Field for two more games in the next two days as tomorrow night they finish their series with the Express at 5:05 p.m. before playing the Mankato MoonDogs Monday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. Tomorrow night is Star Wars Night and Coborn’s Kids Day, as kids will have the opportunity to run the bases and get autographs on the field after the game. Monday is Youth Day at the Rock Pile, presented by the Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota.

Single game tickets can be purchased 24 hours a day at www.stcloudrox.com, by calling (320) 240-9798 or by visiting the Rox ticket office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex.

For more coverage of the Rox, visit www.sctimes.com.