Corn fields are starting to tassel out and town festival’s are in full swing which can mean only one thing and that is the end of the Central Valley League regular season and the competitive and exciting CVL playoffs looming around the corner. The Kimball Express rounded out the regular season last weekend with two more wins finishing the season on top of the Central Valley League South Division and claiming home field advantage throughout CVL playoffs. St. Nicholas was the first to fall in defeat to the Express by a score of 14-5 on Friday night in Cold Spring as the two teams made up and earlier season rain out. Brett Thompson (4-2) picked up his fourth win of the year on the mound for Kimball as the young right hander went six complete innings striking out six allowing five runs, only four were earned runs. The Express offense set the tone early jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning. It was 7-0 after three innings of play. It was pretty much station to station for the offense as only four of their sixteen hits on the night were for extra bases, all being doubles. The game was never close as after five innings it was 11-3 with the final being 14-5. The Express offense was led by Brian Marquardt and Joe Pennertz. Marquardt finished the night 3-6 with a double and two rbi and Pennertz was 2-4 with a double a walk and three rbi. Brooks Marquardt also collected three hits and Brett Thompson helped himself as he went 2-2 at the plate with a double on the evening. Eden Valley The Express were host to the Eden Valley Hawks on Sunday afternoon for the final CVL regular season game of the season and the Kimball nine came out on top with a 3-1 victory that was shortened to five innings due to rain. Brooks Marquardt (5-1) went all five innings picking up his fifth win of the season allowing one run on four hits and striking out four. The Express jumped out early once again plating two runs in the first inning on an RBI single off the bat of Pat Arnold and an RBI double from Joe “Flash” Pennertz. The Express added to the 2-0 lead in the third inning when Scott Marquardt belted his third homerun of the season, a towering solo shot over the centerfield wall making it 3-1. The Hawks scored a run in the top of the third inning. The game made it into the bottom of the sixth inning before the rain came to halt play. The Express actually extended that lead to 6-1 before the game was called. Since the sixth inning was not complete, the game reverts back to the last completed inning. All stats after the fifth do not count. Joe Pennertz and Scott Marquardt led the Express offensively both collecting extra base hits in the game. Rail Report The playoffs are upon us and the Express are loaded for bear as they bring the best league record into post season play and they have won 14 out of their last 16 games. However anything can happen in post season play. It is a new season and the Express are excited to embark on the 2007 playoff campaign. All sights are set on winning the CVL South division playoffs and qualify for Region 11C play which will be held in Eden Valley this year. To start playoff action the Express are host to the Luxemburg Brewers this Sunday with a 2 p.m. start. The Express are the number one seed and the Brewers are the number four seed. The Express swept the regular season series with the Brewers 2-0. Playoffs are a double elimination format, so the Express need to win two games to qualify for Region 11C play. The Express finish the regular season with a league record of 12-2; they still have a few non-league contests throughout the CVL playoffs as they play in Howard Lake, a potential Region 11C opponent if both squads qualify, this Friday night at 7:30 and they will also travel to St. Michael and Maple Lake to keep the sticks and arms fresh throughout the playoffs. Come on out to the ballpark for some exciting baseball action and cheer on the home town Express. ********** In earlier action: Four games in five days was more than enough baseball action recently as the Kimball Express reeled off three victories winning against the Cold Spring Rockies to start things off and beating the St. Augusta Gussies in an ugly game to cap off a wild week of baseball. Cold Spring In Cold Spring, the Express avenged an earlier season loss to the Rockies as they jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after two innings of play and ended up winning the game by a final of 9-3 behind the hot bat of Adam Beyer and the big arm of Jim Brubaker. Beyer started things off in the first inning as he teed off on the first pitch blasting a three run homerun to get the Express on the board. The Express added three more in the second inning with Brooks Marquardt’s RBI double being the big hit. Six runs was more than enough for Brubaker as he threw six strong innings of scoreless ball striking out seven to pick up the win. Matt Dingman and Pat Arnold combined for the final three innings with Matt giving up a run and Arnold allowing two runs in the ninth. Beyer finished the night 3-5 with a homerun a double and four RBI. Pat Arnold collected four hits going 4-5 with three RBI and a double. Brooks Marquardt collected two hits one being a double and knocked in a pair of rbi to aid the offensive effort as well. Lonsdale The Express traveled to Lonsdale and defeated the Aces 5-3. Adam Beyer started things again in the first inning as he smacked a two run homerun to put the Express on the board early. Lonsdale battled back to take the lead at 3-2 before Mike Arnold tied the game up with an rbi triple in the seventh inning and scored the winning run later in that same inning as scored on a throwing error. The Express added an insurance run in the ninth inning with Brooks Marquardt plating Ben Knaus with a single. Brett Thompson started for the Express going seven innings picking up the win. The right hander struck out four and allowed three runs before giving way to Brooks Marquardt after facing one batter in the eighth inning. Brooks finished the game off to pick up the save. Hibbing The Express were at home hosting Hibbing and failed to hold a four run lead as Hibbing scored five unanswered runs to steal one away from the home team as they squeaked out a 7-6 11 inning victory over the Express. Kimball was up 6-2 after seven innings of play. A big four run sixth inning maybe led to some complacency as that was the end of the road for the Express offense and Hibbing took over from there. Recent graduate and newest member of the Kimball Express, Adam Magnuson made his amateur baseball debut on the mound and was pretty impressive going eight innings allowing five runs, striking out two and walking five. The impressive part was taking the ball for the first time and pitching into the ninth inning and leaving the game with the lead. Adam Beyer came on in relief of Magnuson and went the rest of the way taking the loss. Hibbing scored the winning run in the top of the eleventh inning on a two out RBI single to centerfield. Adam Beyer finished the day 3-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Aaron Knaus, Joe Krippner and Matt Dingman all collected two hits for the Express. St. Augusta The Express were in St. Augusta taking on the Gussies in CVL action to cap off the big week of play and they came away with an ugly 8-6 win after battling back from a 4-0 deficit. The top of the eighth inning had the Express down 6-4 before they rallied for four runs. Brian Marquardt tied the game at six a piece with a two-run home run to get things started. From there the Express pieced together two more runs on a couple of walks, a hit batsman, a base hit and a throwing error to give them the 8-6 lead. Pat Arnold started for the Express and didn’t have much as he went only four complete innings and gave way to Brooks Marquardt in the bottom of the fifth inning. Arnold was tagged for six runs on they day struck out one, walked two and hit three batters. Marquardt who came on in relief of Arnold, mowed down the Gussies allowing three hits over the final four innings to pick up the win. Patrick Arnold
