| On a cool Tuesday evening in Watkins the Express were surprised by a young scrappy St. Augusta ball club as the Gussies outplayed the Express and handed them their first CVL loss of the season 9-5. |
| The Express jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but could not keep the momentum going. The Gussies started off just the opposite as Express starter Kris Hagen (3-1) faced only ten batters through the first three innings. The Gussies made it 3-1 after the fourth inning taking advantage of two walks. The fifth inning however was the undoing of the Express as the Gussies strung together five hits coupled with two Express errors to give them the 7-3 lead. |
| The Gussies would not look back as starting pitcher Tom Fuchs held the Express in check most of the way and helped himself out at the plate going 2-3 with a double and a two run homerun in the seventh inning to put the game out of reach. Former Kimball Cub, Rollie Lemke was 3-4 with a triple for the Gussies. |
| Scott Marquardt was 3-4 with a triple and Nate Turck was also 3-4 with two stolen bases to lead the Express offense. Kimball left 13 runners on base, they let a golden opportunity slip through their hands in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out. Reliever Keith Kremer came in and got the Gussies out of the jam getting three Express batters out in a row to end the threat. |
| The Express and Gussies meet again at 2:00 in St. Augusta Sunday June 22 as the St. Augusta Parish holds its church bazaar. |
| Monticello |
| Friday night the Express won a non-league contest against the Monticello Polecats 4-3 in Monticello. |
| The Express broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning to take the lead and the game as Nate Turck hit into a fielders choice scoring Brian Marquardt from third. Mike Arnold led the Express offense going 2-4 with an rbi and a stolen base. Brian Marquardt scored two of the four Express runs. Scott Marquardt added a double in the seventh inning. |
| Brooks Marquardt started for the Express on the mound and picked up his fourth win of the season as he allowed only four hits and three runs; two earned. He struck out two and walked two as he pitched seven innings before he was relieved by Joe Krippner in the eighth inning. Krippner went the final two innings pitching scoreless ball. |
| Pearl Lake |
| Sunday?s game took place in Marty against the Pearl Lake Lakers. Pat Arnold went eight innings picking up the win and Brian Marquardt was 2-4 with a double and an rbi to lead the Express offense. |
| The Express struggled at the plate only scoring three runs. They had many runners on base but just couldn?t get the big hit when they needed it to blow the game open. As a team they set a new record for stolen bases in a game with ten. Surpassing their previous mark of nine against this same Pearl Lake team last season. They stranded 13 runners on base. |
| Kimball scored lone runs in the first three innings to take an early 3-0 lead. That was all they needed as Pat Arnold (5-0) finally threw strikes and kept the Laker hitters in check most of the afternoon only allowing one run on three hits. The biggest stat was Arnold walked only one batter, compared to seven a week ago in Luxemburg. Jeremy Kuechle came on in the ninth to pick up his fourth save of the year. |
| News & Notes |
| The Express announce they will unofficially open the refurbished ball park Sunday June 29 as they will host the CVL rival Watkins Clippers at 2:00 that day. The field is really taking shape as more ag lime was delivered and the tin part of the fence has been completed. Just a small portion of the fence is yet to be erected as chain link will be installed in the right field corner. The grass is coming along nicely. Thirty advertisements of local businesses will complete the outfield wall. |
| The Express record now stands at 16-2 overall and 10-1 in the league play. |
| Slight bend in the tracks for Express |