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Eau Claire Express

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Eau Claire Express
Information
LeagueNorthwoods League (Great Plains East 2019-present)
(North Division 2014-2018)
(South Division 2005-2013)
LocationEau Claire, Wisconsin
BallparkCarson Park
Founded2005
League championships1 (2010)
Division championships4 (2007, 2010, 2016, 2019)
ColorsBurnt Orange, Black, Light Blue      
OwnershipCraig Toycen, The Toycen Baseball Club, LLC[1]
ManagementSammi Costello,[2]
ManagerDale Varsho,Vic Cable[3]
MediaEau Claire Leader Telegram
WebsiteEauClaireExpress.com

The Eau Claire Express is a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the Northwoods League. Their home games are played at Carson Park, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

After two straight losing seasons in 2005 and 2006, the Eau Claire Express achieved many firsts during the 2007 season. The team won nine of its final ten regular season games to finish 42-26 overall and claim the 2007 2nd Half South Division title, their first regular season division title in franchise history and qualified for the Northwoods League playoffs, another franchise first.

In the 2007, South Division Championship Series, they faced the 1st Half South Division Champion Green Bay Bullfrogs. They won the series 2–1, claiming the 2007 South Division Pennant, another first in franchise history. In the 2007 Northwoods League Championship Series, they faced the North Division Champion St. Cloud River Bats and were swept 2-0 by the eventual Northwoods League Champions.

The 2008 season ended with the Express missing the Northwoods League playoffs by 1.5 games. The Express finished the season one game below .500.

The Express had one of their best seasons in 2009. They had a great first half, winning the NWL South Division to qualify for the playoffs. However, injuries and summer school depleted the squad in the second half. Eau Claire was eliminated in two games by the La Crosse Loggers in the Northwoods League Divisional round.

In 2010, the Express won the first half of the season again with a 22–12 record. Via www.perfectgame.org, the Express have been ranked as high as #3 in the nation for summer collegiate baseball. The team closed out the 2010 season winning both halves. They followed this up by winning the NWL Championship and www.perfectgame.org ranked the Eau Claire Express the #1 summer collegiate team in the nation.

The Express moved to the North Division for 2014, to accommodate the new NWL teams in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Kalamazoo, Michigan. [4]

The 2016, season saw the Express return to the Northwoods League postseason after winning the season's first half title. This was the first time the team had qualified for the playoffs since the 2010 season. Eau Claire opened the playoffs hosting the Mankato MoonDogs in the first round of the Divisional Playoffs at Carson Park. Despite having only a 1–7 record vs. Mankato in the regular season, Eau Claire was able to defeat the MoonDogs to advance. The next night the team traveled to St. Cloud, Minn. to face the second half champion Rox for a chance to play for the NWL Championship. After blowing a late lead, the Express were able to defeat the Rox in extra innings to win the North Division title.

Awaiting the Express in the NWL Championship Series was the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, the owners of the league's best regular season record. Eau Claire led game one by a run with two outs in the ninth inning at Witter Field in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. before giving up a walk-off, two-run home run to lose. The Express would go on to lose game two the following night at Carson Park to end a successful season and concede the Northwoods League title to the Rafters.[5]

In 2022, The Eau Claire Express won the Great Plains East Division(2nd Half) with a record of 42–26.[6] The Express lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual Plains Division champion Duluth Huskies.[7]

In 2023, the Express found themselves back in the playoffs, winning the first half despite an 0-3 start which they were outscored 11-20 and gave up 8 runs in two of those games. They went 20-11 the rest of the first half and clinched it with a 12-1 win on July 3 over the Rochester Honkers. They got their way through the second half, going 16-17. They would get swept by La Crosse in 2 games.

Season-by-season-records

[edit]
Season GP W L Playoffs
2005 68 28 40 Did not qualify
2006 67 29 38 Did not qualify
2007 68 42 26 Won South Div. Finals 6-3, vs. Green Bay Bullfrogs
Lost Championship 0-2, vs. St. Cloud River Bats
2008 68 33 35 Did not qualify
2009 68 36 32 Lost South Div. Finals 0-2, vs. La Crosse Loggers
2010 70 48 22 Won South Div. Finals 2-1 vs. Wisconsin Woodchucks
Won Championship 2-1, vs. Rochester Honkers
NORTHWOODS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
2011 70 36 34 Did not qualify
2012 70 26 44 Did not qualify
2013 70 33 37 Did not qualify
2014 72 36 36 Did not qualify
2015 71 29 42 Did not qualify
2016 72 45 27 Won North Div. Semi-Finals 1-0, vs. Mankato Moondogs
Won North Div. Finals 1-0, vs. St. Cloud Rox
Lost League Championship 0-2, vs. Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
2017 72 39 33 Lost North Div. Semi-Finals 0-1, vs. Mankato Moondogs
2018 71 28 43 Did not qualify
2019 72 40 32 Won Great Plains East Finals, 2-games-to-0 vs. Waterloo Bucks
Won Great Plains Finals, 2-0 vs. Willmar Stingers
Lost League Championship, 2-3 vs. Traverse City Pit Spitters
2020 0 0 0 Did not play due to the Covid-19 pandemic
2021 68 27 41 Did not qualify
2022 68 42 26 Lost Great Plains East Finals, 0-2 vs. Duluth Huskies
2023 67 36 31 Lost Great Plains East Finals, 0-2 vs. La Crosse Loggers
2024 70 35 35 Did not qualify

Roster

[edit]
Position[8] Number Player AVG OPS SLG College(Year)
C 99 Jackson Bessette .000 .000 .000 University of Illinois-Chicago (Sophomore)
C 99 Evan Gustafson .000 .000 .000 Oregon State University (Freshman)
C 99 Davis Rivers .000 .000 .000 Texas Tech University (Freshman)
INF 99 Brady Blake .000 .000 .000 Kansas University (Freshman)
INF 99 Jake Busson .000 .000 .000 Iowa Central Community College (Freshman)
INF 99 Hudson Deal .000 .000 .000 Sauk Valley Community College (Sophomore)
INF 99 Ethan Farris .000 .000 .000 Texas State University (Freshman)
INF 99 Ryan Fenn .000 .000 .000 Cal Poly (Senior)
INF 99 Dylan Knowles .000 .000 .000 Cal Poly (Junior)
INF 99 Austin Miller .000 .000 .000 Sauk Valley Community College (Sophomore)
INF 99 Ragan Pinnow .000 .000 .000 Augustana University (Sophomore)
INF 99 Gabe Richardson .000 .000 .000 University of Minnesota-Duluth (Sophomore)
INF 99 Bronson Rivera .000 .000 .000 University of Hawaii (Junior)
INF 99 Justin Sedin .000 .000 .000 UW-Stout (Junior)
OF 99 George Bilecki .000 .000 .000 Lewis University (Sophomore)
OF 99 Reggie Bussey .000 .000 .000 Oakland University (Sophomore)
OF 99 Ethan Hott .000 .000 .000 Stanford University (Sophomore)
OF 99 Dylan O'Connell .000 .000 .000 Western Kentucky University (Sophomore)
OF 99 Brady Reynolds .000 .000 .000 Stanford University (Freshman)
OF 99 Brigs Richartz .000 .000 .000 University of St. Thomas (Junior)
OF 99 Colton Wemhoff .000 .000 .000 Kansas University (Freshman)
Position Number Player ERA WHIP College(Year)
P 99 Andrew Ball 0.00 0.00 Augustana University (Freshman)
P 99 Gavyn Bowen 0.00 0.00 State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota (Freshman)
P 99 Tracen Cameron 0.00 0.00 FIU (Freshman)
P 99 Zach Diver 0.00 0.00 Sauk Valley Community College (Sophomore)
P 99 Rowan Donels 0.00 0.00 Iowa University (Freshman)
P 99 Evan Esch 0.00 0.00 University of St. Thomas (Junior)
P 99 Nick Fitzanko 0.00 0.00 William Jewell College (Junior)
P 99 Parker Guthrie 0.00 0.00 Washington University in St. Louis (Freshman)
P 99 Kale Hopke 0.00 0.00 Dakota County Technical College (Sophomore)
P 99 Nolan Kemp 0.00 0.00 University of St. Thomas (Sophomore)
P 99 Mason Lei 0.00 0.00 Rock Valley College (Freshman)
P 99 Christian Lim 0.00 0.00 Stanford University (Freshman)
P 99 Blake Nettleton 0.00 0.00 Sauk Valley Community College (Sophomore)
P 99 Cole Selvig 0.00 0.00 University of Texas at Austin (Freshman)
P 99 Ryan Speshyock 0.00 0.00 Stanford University (Freshman)
P 99 Zacary Tenn 0.00 0.00 University of Hawaii (Freshman)
P 99 Ethan Thomas 0.00 0.00 University of Hawaii (Freshman)
P 99 Drew Whalen 0.00 0.00 Western Kentucky University (Freshman)

Express Players to reach Major League Baseball

[edit]

Source:[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "EAU Claire Express baseball team sold".
  2. ^ "Express Announce First Female General Manager in Franchise History". March 2022.
  3. ^ "Front Office".
  4. ^ 2013-09-30 Express to move to North Division in 2014 Archived 2013-11-11 at the Wayback Machine, Eau Claire Express website.
  5. ^ "Express Fall Short in Championship Loss". Northwoodsleague.com. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Standings - Northwoods League". northwoodsleague.com. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Eau Claire Express Eliminated From Playoffs". WQOW.com. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Eau Claire Express - Roster". northwoodsleague.com. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Alumni in the Majors".
  10. ^ "Jordan Zimmermann Stats".
  11. ^ "Kole Calhoun Stats".
  12. ^ "Nevin Ashley Stats".
  13. ^ "Eddie Gamboa Stats".
  14. ^ "Brad Goldberg Stats".
  15. ^ "Dietrich Enns Stats".
  16. ^ "Nate Orf Stats".
  17. ^ "Sam Haggerty Stats".
  18. ^ "Daulton Varsho Stats".
  19. ^ "Louis Head Stats".
  20. ^ "Griffin Jax Stats".
  21. ^ "Steven Wilson Stats".
  22. ^ "Mickey McDonald Stats".
  23. ^ "Alex Call Stats".
  24. ^ "Irving Lopez Stats".
  25. ^ "Erich Uelmen Stats".
  26. ^ "Lane Ramsey Stats".
  27. ^ "Michael Papierski Stats".
  28. ^ "Justin Slaten Stats".
  29. ^ "Hallberg took unique journey to Giants' coaching staff".
  30. ^ "Giants hitting coach Viele's meteoric rise continues to pay off".
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