Express fall in the eleventh
Jun. 28—The Express entered last night's home game against Willmar a game and a half ahead of Duluth with a 10-6 record overall, and were 5-5 in the last 10 games. The Stingers had a 15-11 record, and were 6-4 in the last 10. the home team had lost one game since its last win prior to the Monday contest according to the Northwoods League website.
The matchup proved close, but the Stingers won 7-4 in 11 innings.
Express starting pitcher Jared Lessman tossed seven first pitch strikes over 20 batters faced in four innings.
Benjamin Rosengard led off the Express order with a putout for the team's first out. Trevor Haskins was the first Express player on base after being walked, he advanced to second on a called strike delivered to Jake Sapien, who succumbed to a putout for out number three.
Willmar cleanup hitter Drey Dirksen scored the first run of the night for Willmar in the top of the second, then Jakob Christian and Kyle Payne scored a couple more for the Stingers to give the visiting squad a 3-0 advantage heading into the third.
Rosengard went down swinging for Eau Claire's first out in the third after Cadyn Schwabe singled to the pitcher.
Payne scored another run for Willmar in the fourth on a put out of JT Navyak.
Sapien added Eau Claire's first run in the bottom of the fourth on Reed Latimer's single to center which left the scoreboard reading 4-1 in Willmar's favor heading into the fifth. The first three Willmar batters up to open the fifth also resulted in the team's three outs.
Eau Claire had one error, and no runs or hits in the bottom of the fifth.
Latimer scored on a sixth-inning sac fly to make it a 4-2 game. Cole Conn's single to center in the seventh put him on base, then Trevor Haskins went down swinging. Conn stole second with two outs and Sapien was subjected to a putout before Conn could get any closer to scoring.
In the bottom of the eighth, Latimer swatted a single to center field, then Sam Kuchinski sent a single to right to put two on base for Eau Claire.
Charlie Saum's walk sent Kuchinski to second. Latimer raced home to score in the in the eighth on a sac Fly. This made it a 4-3 game. Kuchinski took opportunities to advance to place himself in scoring position.
Kuchinski tied it at four thanks to Rosengard's eighth-inning single to right.
The hit also moved Charlie Saum around to third. The scored remained 4-4 at the end of nine.
Joe Yorke srtuck out swinging for Eau Claire's second out of the tenth. Schwabe sent it into an eleventh inning with a third out putout.
Josh Fitzgerald and Payne scored a pair of runs in the top of the eleventh. JTNavyak added one more to make it a 7-4 game.Dalton Pierson went down swinging for Willmar's third out.
