The Express made five stops throughout central Minnesota this past week and fared well. They won four out of five games which improved their overall record to 10-1 and 6-0 in the Central Valley League. Alexandria The Express started off the week in Alexandria taking on the Senators at Knute Nelson Field. The Express used a five-run first inning and a five-run seventh inning to beat the Senators 13-2 in seven innings. Scott Marquardt was 2-4 with three RBIs, including a triple to lead the Express. He is off to a scorching start at the plate this year. Brian Marquardt and Joe Pennertz collected two hits in the win. Pat Arnold (2-0) started and picked up the victory going five innings and striking out six. He gave up two runs to Alexand-ria. Joe Krippner pitched the sixth and seventh innings, striking out three. Princeton On Wednesday, May 28, the Express stopped in Princeton to take on an excellent ball club at Veterans Field. Princeton has made the past three straight Class C state tournaments, and the past two years have lost out in the tournament to the eventual Class C state champ. In 2001, they lost to the Watkins Clippers and last year to Granite Falls. In a close contest, the Express managed an 8-6 victory as they had some ninth-inning heroics. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when the Express exploded for five runs to take the 5-0 lead. The big hit of the inning came off the bat of Mike Arnold as he connected on a two-out pitch to drive in two Express runners. Kimball added one more run in the sixth. Down 6-0, Princeton managed one run in the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, however, the Panthers came back big and took advantage of four straight walks. Joe Krippner relieved Kris Hagen, who pitched seven strong innings. Krippner just didn’t perform. He has logged many innings for the Express so far this season and it caught up with him. The Panthers scored five runs in the inning knotting the score at 6-6. Four runs were charged to Krippner and one run to Brooks Marquardt who came on in relief of Krippner in the inning. In the top of the ninth, Scott Marquardt blasted a two-runner jobber over the left center field fence to make the score 8-6. Brooks Marquardt stayed on the mound for the ninth and slammed the door shut to pick up the win. Watkins On a gorgeous night for baseball, the Express made the short trek to Watkins to battle it out with the Clippers in a Central Valley League stand off. Watkins has had Kimball’s number the past few years and Kimball has not found a way to beat the savvy veterans. On this night the Kimball team pulled together a few hits and played solid defensively to steal one from the Clippers on their home field. Justin Hill (3-0) started on the mound for the Express. He went seven solid innings and allowed only five hits. He gave up all five Clipper runs, but the Watkins team never really seemed to figure Hill out. Offensively the Express were led once again by catcher Scott Marquardt going 3-6 with 4 RBIs. Brooks Marquardt, Mike Arnold and Nate Turck collected three hits apiece and aided in the winning effort. Kimball scored ten runs but still left 14 runners stranded on base. New Ulm The Express showed up at Johnson Park in New Ulm on Friday night. The game was played in a wind, light rain and cool temperatures. The weather caused the Express to drop an extra inning contest to New Ulm Brewers 4-3. Kimball rallied back from a 2-0 deficit in the fourth inning on a Hill double driving in Mike Arnold and a Tom Marquardt ground out to score Aaron Knaus. Kimball took the lead in the seventh inning on a single by Mike Arnold scoring Scott Marquardt. New Ulm came back in the bottom of the inning to tie it up at three a piece. It stayed that way until the 11th inning. Kimball mounted a threat in the top of the inning but couldn’t get a run across, in the bottom half of the inning the Brewers took advantage of three walks by relief-pitcher Brian Marquardt. He scored the game winning run on a single by Jamie Hoffman. Brooks Marquardt started and got no decision. Brian Marquardt (0-1) made his first appearance on the mound for the Express and took the hard luck loss. St. Nicholas On Sunday the Express were back in CVL action as they traveled to St. Nicholas to take on the Nicks. Even though the game was played in St. Nick the Express were the home team. It was a scheduled home game for Kimball but the Kimball diamond is still unplayable because of the renovations. The Express won 12-4 and with this victory, they took the season series with the Nicks. Kimball started Pat Arnold (3-0) who went seven innings picking up his third win of the season. Scott Marquardt continued his hot hitting going 4-5 with two doubles to lead the Express offense again. Jeremy Kuechle had a day at the plate going 3-5 with a double, he hit the ball hard in every at bat. Mike Arnold was 1-1 with a solo home run in the third inning. Kimball scored four runs in the second inning, four runs in the eighth inning and scattered four runs in between. News and Notes The Express have another busy week as they play five games again in six days. On Tuesday night, Express will play in Watkins and make up a game that was supposed to be played on Mother’s Day versus Pearl Lake. On Wednesday evening, the team will be in Cold Spring, playing against one of the best teams in the state, the Class B legend Cold Spring Springers. Friday night will bring the Express to invade Delano, taking on the Athletics. On Saturday afternoon they will be back in Cold Spring taking on the other Cold Spring team the Rockies, as they clash in CVL action. Finally, on Sunday they end up in Luxemburg to play the Brewers. Come on out to the ballpark to watch and exciting brand of baseball. All the ball parks on the schedule for this week are beautiful and have a great baseball atmosphere. Hope to see you there!
