Express drop one to Monticello

Patrick ArnoldThe Express showed up on Wednesday night to take on the Polecats in exhibition play and competed for six innings before watching a close, well-played game fall apart in the seventh inning. Monticello took a 4-0 lead into the sixth inning and scored six runs in the bottom of the inning, to end the game because of the ten-run rule.
Kimball started righthander Kris Hagen on the mound, Hagen pitched well, going five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits, he would walk two and strike out four. Hagen once again fell victim to a high pitch count, throwing 94 pitches through five innings of work. With it being early in the season and a cool evening, Hagen was pulled, in favor of the lefty Joe Krippner, to start the sixth inning, with the Polecats leading 3-0. Joe came in and threw one inning, giving up two hits and allowing one unearned run and striking out one. Monticello would take a 4-0 lead into the seventh inning, as Scott Marquardt would make his Express pitching debut. He would throw 34 pitches in the inning, giving up six runs on four hits, as the Polecats ended the game with a sac fly to right center, scoring the tenth and final run of the game, giving them a 10-0 win in seven innings.
Offensively, the Express just couldn’t get anything going, only having one inning where more than one runner reached base. No runners advanced past second base. They could only muster two hits, as Jeremy Kuechle led the game off with a single and Scott Marquardt collected the only other hit for the Express in the sixth inning, hitting a line drive to left centerfield. It was a quiet night for the Express lumber.
The Express were in the game up until the seventh inning, when Monticello exploded for six runs. Kimball had five runners reach base and had two or three balls hit well, right at the Polecat defense. With a little bit of luck the outcome could have been a lot different. Even if it wouldn’t have resulted in a win for the Express, they could have made it a more interesting contest for the loyal spectators, who traveled to Monticello to support the local team.
The Express record would stand at 2-1 overall, 1-0 CVL, after Wednesday night’s game.