Bombers get first win over division leader Eau Claire this season

By Chris Willis
Western Herald

The Battle Creek Bombers just couldn’t find a way to beat the Eau Claire Express in any of the first seven games this season.

Sunday was their last chance to avoid going 0-for- the-season against the Northwoods League South Division first half champion, and the Bombers finally got the win.

Saturday night was tough for the Bombers after losing two games in a stretch of 10 and a half innings. The Bombers and Express started off the evening resuming a game suspended on June 19 due to thunderstorms.

The game resumed with the Bombers coming to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning tied 2-2. They loaded the bases with one out, but failed to score the winning run. The Express scored a run in the 10th and then retired the Bombers in order to win the game 3-2.

“You try to put your guys in a position to succeed,” Bombers manager Tom Fleenor said. “We did that, but we just didn’t get it done. It seems to be our M.O.”

A half hour later, the Bombers lost their regularly scheduled game versus the Express 6-2. This dropped the Bombers to 0-7 against Eau Claire.

“We’ve taken the yelling approach, we’ve done all sorts of things, you‘ve gotta come out there and try to win,” Fleenor said. “We’ve got a lot of games left and anything can happen, I’m hoping at some point we can go on a run.”

Sunday the Bombers finally beat the Express, the final score was 4-1. Bombers starting pitcher Joe Wagstaff only allowed seven hits and one run while striking-out five batters during his 7.0 innings of work. Closing pitcher R.J. Hively added his 11th save of the season, which is third most in the Northwoods League.

Western Michigan University’s Chris Lewis had three hits and scored three runs in the three games, and his .338 batting average is second best in the Northwoods League.

The Bombers now stand at 10-11 this second half of the season and are 2.5 games out of first. The team will have to improve quickly if they hope to meet the Express in the playoffs.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Jul 26 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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