It was the tale of two completely different games this past weekend as the Kimball Express blew out the Eden Valley Hawks 15-0 on Friday night and on Sunday squeaked out a 1-0 victory over the Watkins Clippers picking up two big Central Valley League victories. Watkins Sunday the Watkins Clippers made the 5-mile jaunt to Kimball as the two teams squared off for the second time this season as the Express slipped past the Clippers 1-0 this time after getting beat by them in the teams first meeting by a score of 5-4. Brian Marquardt reached on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the first inning scoring Pat Arnold from third base and that was the difference in the game as Pat Arnold and Jim Brubaker combined for a three hit shutout with Arnold picking up the win going five innings before the second rain delay halted play for over an hour. After the rain delay, Brubaker came on and held the Clippers in check the rest of the way to pick up the save going four innings striking out two and allowing one hit. Leading the Express offensively was Joe Pennertz going 2-2 and Aaron Knaus went 1-3 with a double. Pat Arnold was 1-4 with a run scored. The Express had six hits on the day, Scott Marquardt added a hit and Brian Marquardt was 1-3 with the only RBI for the Express. Eden Valley Friday night the Express traveled to Eden Valley to take on the CVL South division leading Eden Valley Hawks. All four Marquardt’s collected hits in the game with the three brothers blasting homeruns as the Express blew this game wide open early winning 15-0. Brooks Marquardt led the game off with a solo shot to left field that was followed by a Scott Marquardt two run blast to make it 3-0 after one inning. In the second inning the Express plated six more runs making it 9-0 after two innings. The big hit of the second inning was a Brian Marquardt opposite field three run bomb that hit half way up the football bleachers in right field. That was all starter Brett Thompson needed as the right hander went six complete innings striking out five walking none and scattered seven hits to pick up the win for the Express. Brooks Marquardt came on in relief to finish the game off striking out six in three inning of work and allowing only one hit. The Express offensive combined for 17 hits on the night. The sixth inning Aaron Knaus belted his second double of the night driving in two runs and Adam Beyer also had an RBI double, both Beyer and Knaus collected three hits on the night. In the eighth inning the Express tallied two more runs to cap off the scoring making it 15-0. To lead the Express offensively Brooks Marquardt went 3-5 on the night with the homerun and also had four RBI. Brian Marquardt was 3-6 on the night with a homerun and three RBI. Tom Marquardt got a pinch hit single in the top of the ninth inning as all four Marquardt’s recorded hits in the game. Rail Report With the two wins over the weekend the Express record now stands a 9-4 overall and 6-2 in CVL play. In Sunday’s game Brian Marquardt pulled a hamstring late in the game as he was running out a ground ball. He was safe at first but went down in agony after pulling his hamstring. Marquardt is day-to-day. Sunday’s game also had two rain delays, the first being about 20 minutes and the second lasting 90 minutes. The Express are again in action this weekend as they host the Cold Spring Springers on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. and on Sunday they travel to Luxemburg to take on the Brewers with a 2 p.m. start scheduled. Patrick Arnold
