Winning is like a disease-it’s contagious. Proof of that was two wins by the Kimball Express this past week as they defeated the Cold Spring Rockies Tuesday evening and stole a game from the Maple Lake Lakers on Wednesday. Express now stands at 4-0 CVL and 6-0 overall. Cold Spring Rockies Cold Spring Ballpark was the site; CVL action between the Express and Rockies was the contest and the result was a 7-1 win for the Express. To win a baseball game, a team must pitch well and play defensively. Cold Spring pitched well but didn’t come through defensively. The usually sure- handed Rockies committed six errors in the game and Kimball took full advantage of the opportunity. They used a four-run sixth inning to pull away from a 1-1 tie, added two more runs in the eighth inning and made the final score 7-1. Aaron Knaus was 3-5 with three singles and Brain Marquardt was 2-5 with a double to lead the Express in the win. Kris Hagen (2-0) got his second start of the season and pitched six solid innings, allowing only one run on four hits. Right-handed Hagen struck out two and walked four. The Rockies only posed one threat that evening, when they scored their lone run in the fourth. Joe Krippner came on in relief of Hagen to go the final three innings. Krippner faced twelve batters in the final three frames, allowing a minute two hits and he struck out two. Maple Lake Lakers On another great night for baseball the Express found themselves in the middle of Irish Stadium at Maple Lake. Express stole the game from the Lakers 6-5 in exhibition action. The Class B power Maple Lake Lakers can play baseball. The Express showed them they can play a little hard ball themselves. The Express rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the eighth inning, scoring four runs to take a 5-4 lead. They added one more run in the top of the ninth which would eventually be the game winning run. The Lakers managed a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, scoring one run to make it 6-5 before Brooks Marquardt (1-0) recorded a strike-out to end the threat. The Lakers took the early 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. The Express came back in the top of the fifth scoring one to make it 2-1. The Lakers started to pull away a little in the seventh inning, scoring two and chasing Justin Hill from the mound in favor of Brooks Marquardt. The game was just warming up. In the eighth inning the Lakers brought in their hard throwing lefty Todd Fuller. Fuller was gassing it up, humping his fastball across home around 85 mph. Which in amateur baseball is considered, “bringing it”. The Express were patient at the plate and made Fuller pitch. Nate Turck led the inning off with a walk. Brooks Marquardt struck out for the first out. Jeremy Kuechle would reach on a walk to put runners on first and second. Scott Marquardt then hit a looping double down the left field line to score Turck to make it 4-2. Joe Pennertz struck out for the second Express out. So, with two outs Mike Arnold battled Fuller to a 2-2 count before smoking a line drive single into right center to score both runners, chasing the hard-throwing Fuller from the game. Knaus would single in Arnold to give the Express the lead at 5-4. Kimball would plate one more in the ninth as Scott Marquardt sent Brooks home to make it 6-4. The Lakers mounted a rally in the ninth, but Marquardt slammed the door shut striking out the last batter. Marquardt went nearly three innings, picking up the win in relief. This was his first appearance of the season. Hill took no decision but pitched well giving the team a chance to win. Hill worked nearly seven innings striking out two and walking three. News and Notes The Express had the memorial weekend off. This week they are on the toughest stretch of the schedule as they play five games in six days. They travel to Alexandria Tuesday, Princeton Wednesday, Watkins Thursday, New Ulm Friday and finish up with the St. Nicholas Nicks Sunday. Sunday was to be the Express home opener but with the grass not being mature enough, the Express will stay on the road. The Kimball Express Baseball Team Board of Directors decided that the team will not play a home game this season unless the grass becomes playable. If they played on it now the cleats would just tear it up and defeat the whole purpose of planting the grass. With all the time and dedication that has been put into the field, the team doesn’t want to delay the progress any further by getting too greedy and playing on it right away.
