The Express kept hope for a Region 10C berth alive by shutting out the Gussies 6-0, Sunday, in round two of the Central Valley League playoffs. The Express needed a quick start to dash any hopes the Gussies may have had and that is exactly what they did. In the first inning, the Express scored three runs behind a two run blast from Scott Marquardt, and a solo rocket shot from Mike Arnold. Both Scott and Mike had a great day at the plate; Scott was 4-5, HR, with three singles, two RBIs and a run, and Mike was 3-5, HR, with a double, a single and two RBIs. Justin Hill (8-0) pitched his second complete game shutout of the year – his second in his last three starts. He struck out three and allowed only three hits. His no-hit bid broke up in the sixth inning when he gave up back-to-back singles with two outs. In last week’s loss to Pearl Lake, Hill got the no decision and pitched very well. However, the Express defense didn’t back him up; they committed four costly errors behind him and five for the game. Sunday was a different story. The defense was there and the offense came through with run support. The Express added to the 3-0 lead in the sixth inning. Reach-ing on a single, Aaron Knaus advanced to second on a heads-up play and Pat Arnold fouled out to the first baseman. When Gussies first baseman Dave Fritz made a spectacular feet-first diving catch into the fence, Knaus tagged up from first, noticed that nobody was covering second base and scored one pitch later on a Nate Turck single. Turck stole second and scored on a single by Brooks Mar-quardt, making the score 5-0. Brooks was 3-5 with three singles and a RBI. Kimball tallied one more run in the seventh inning when Jeremy Kuechle drew a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a Mike Arnold double. The Express offense barraged Gussie pitching with 15 hits. The win sets the Express up for a showdown with the Pearl Lake Lakers Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Watkins. Pearl Lake lost to Eden Valley 4-2 last Sunday and will now face the Express in a do-or-die game to advance into the Region 10C playoffs. Probable starters for the game are Pat Arnold for the Express and Dale Kraemer for the Lakers. Dassel-Cokato The Express were in exhibition action Friday night, trying to stay sharp and get some at bats in for the Sunday playoff game against the Gussies. Kimball took it to Dassel ball club, beating them 8-0. Mike Arnold and Joe Pennertz led the Express offense with two hits apiece. Both had big hits in the five-run fifth inning. Pen-nertz drove in two runs with a single and Arnold belted a double off the left field wall. Arnold was 2-5, with a double and two runs. Pennertz collected two hits, scored two runs and drove two in, going 2-5 as well. Pat Arnold (8-0) started on the mound for the Express. He went five innings and got some work in for the first time in two weeks. Arnold struck out one, walked one and scattered seven hits. He was relieved by Joe Krippner in the sixth inning. Krippner went three innings, giving up only one hit, striking out four and walking one. Brian Marquardt came on in the ninth inning to finish the game off for the Express. This was Brian’s second outing of the year. He slammed the door shut on the Saints after giving up a single to lead off the inning. Rail Report The two wins improve the Express record to 27-4 overall and 1-1 in the CVL North Playoffs. In the Central Valley South Division Playoffs, Watkins has advanced to Region 10C play after winning in round one 6-2 over St. Nick and 3-1 over the Cold Spring Rockies in round two. Cold Spring and Luxemburg will battle it out Wednesday night, to determine which team advances. Eden Valley has also qualified for region play, after beating Pearl Lake 4-2 Sunday. The Express plays Wednesday night against Pearl Lake to see who advances to region action from the CVL North Division.
