The 2004 Miller Lite Invitational wasn’t quite as inviting for the Express as they won their first game 2-1 against Morris, and dropped their second game 5-1 to Prior Lake, eliminating them from tournament play. Morris Eagles The Express won game one against the Morris Eagles in the bottom of the eighth inning the morning of Saturday, June 19. Tom Marquardt’s RBI single secured the win for the Express. Marquardt’s single hit the first base bag, eluding the Morris first baseman, sending the ball into shallow left field and scoring Jeremy Kuechle. Pat Arnold picked up his fifth win as he went all eight innings improving to 5-1 for the year. Arnold allowed four hits, struck out two and walked two. The only run given up was a solo homerun in the sixth inning. Scott Marquardt led the offense as he went 2-3 with two doubles and scored the other Express run on his dad Tom Marquardt’s sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Tom was 2-3 with two RBIs, including the game winner. The win sent the Express into the 5:15 p.m. game against Prior Lake Saturday evening. Prior Lake Jays The Express fell to the Prior Lake Jays in the Arlington Baseball Park, 5-1. Kimball fell behind 1-0 after the first inning, and after a four-run third inning they were facing a 5-0 deficit. Kimball started Justin Hill on the mound for the second game. Hill pitched three innings before being relieved by Joe Krippner. Hill just didn’t have it on Saturday; he gave up five runs on 10 hits, he didn’t walk anyone and struck out two. Prior Lake is an excellent hitting ball club. Krippner pitched very well in his relief stint. He went four innings, allowed no runs on two hits, walked one and struck out two. Offensively, the Express could have just as well stayed in the dugout. They had a total of three hits in the game. Aaron Knaus scored the lone run as he singled sharply up the middle and advanced to second on a passed ball. Knaus moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brooks Marquardt. After scoring 44 runs in last week’s St. Cloud tournament, the Express were only able to muster three runs in two games. St. Nicholas The Express played the St. Nicholas Nicks in Watkins Tuesday, June 15. Kimball squeaked by the Nicks in an 11-inning battle, 7-6. Once again Aaron Knaus scored the winning run on a wild pitch. Knaus singled to right field to lead the bottom of the eleventh. Knaus ended up at third base after an error and a ground out to second base by Brian Marquardt. He scored on the fourth pitch in Nate Turck’s at-bat. Knaus was 3-5 with a double to lead the Express. Mike Arnold and Scott Marquardt also doubled in the game and Jeremy Kuechle was 3-5 as well. Rob May went all 11 innings for the Nicks pitching well enough to give his team a chance to win. The Express out-hit the Nicks, 12-6. Brian Marquardt started on the mound for the Express. Despite having a sore throwing arm, he went six innings before giving way to Nate Turck in the seventh inning with the score at 6-3. Turck allowed one run in the seventh, and was relieved by Pat Arnold in the eighth inning. Arnold allowed two runs in the eighth as the Nicks tied the game up at 6-6. Jeremy Kuechle came on in the ninth and went the rest of the way for the victory. Rail report The Express are now 14-6 overall and 6-4 in Central Valley League play. They are in action this week against the Litchfield Blues at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 23, in Litchfield. They travel to Delano Friday, June 25, to take on the Athletics with the first pitch slated for 7:30 p.m. The Express will be in St. Augusta at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 27, to take on the Gussies.
