SEVEN ERRORS DOOM EXPRESS

August 16, 2004

Scott Marquardt was 3-4 with five rbi’s and a grand slam homerun for the Express but that still wasn’t enough as the Cold Spring Rockies ended the Express season by a score of 12-9 Friday night in region 10C play in Watkins.

The Rockies opened up a scoreless ball game in the fourth inning as they unleashed the wood for six runs. The biggest blow came off the bat of starting pitcher Rick Burtzel who blasted a grand slam home run making it 6-0, Rockies. The Express, usually a very sound defensive team committed two big errors in the inning to keep the Rockies rally alive. Of the six runs scored, one was earned. Pat Arnold came on in relief of starter Brooks Marquardt in the fourth inning. After giving up a single, Arnold struck out Rockies catcher Paul Schreiner to end the inning.

Kimball could not get anything going offensively off Rockies starter Rick Burtzel. They had runners on every inning but could not get the big hit when they needed it. Cold Spring added to its 6-0 lead in the fifth as they scored two more off Arnold, only one of them being earned. The Express defense picked a very inopportune time to not show up as they committed seven errors on the night; seven!

Down 8-0 going into the seventh inning the Express scored two runs to make it 8-2. The Rockies countered with four runs in the top of the eighth inning off reliever Justin Hill who was in his second inning of work after pitching a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

In the bottom of the eighth inning with the score 12-2, the Express lumber finally woke up as they rallied for six runs with Scottie Marquardt’s one out towering grand slam over the leftfield wall cutting the lead to 12-8.

Kris Hagen pitched a scoreless top of the ninth inning as they Express were finally making a game out of this mess. They managed a single run in the ninth as Brooks Marquardt singled home brother Brian making it 12-9. That was all they could muster up as Jeremy Kuechle’s line out to second base ended the Express season. 

Rail Report

The Express end their season with an overall record of 23-12. Not a bad season as they won the St. Cloud Sports Inc tournament in June and won the CVL South division title. They would like to wish the two teams representing region 10C in state tournament play good luck. The Melrose Black Sox and the St. Cloud Orthopedic Ice will advance to Jordan and Belle Plaine with the hopes of winning the Class C state championship.

Also the Express would like to commend the Watkins Clippers for putting on an excellent region tournament. A great atmosphere with good food and cold refreshments throughout the tourney. They would also like to thank everyone who came out and showed support for the team this summer. The dedicated fans that come out week after week in support of the team makes it that much more enjoyable to go out  and play every game. A very special thanks to all of our sponsors who have a sign on the outfield wall. Without your support we would not be able to continuously  make improvements to Veterans Memorial Field.

To Jean Matua and the rest of the Tri-County News staff for their continued coverage of the Express and putting photos of the games and finding room for the weekly write ups in every edition throughout the summer is greatly appreciated. A very big thank you to all concession stand workers and our P.A. announcer Kevin Sommers for their volunteer efforts.

Thanks to everyone making the summer so fun. The Express can’t wait to see you all again next summer!