Cavaliers Winning Streak Ends At 15 Games

The Eau Claire Cavaliers felt an unusual and distasteful feeling after Sunday’s doubleheader against the Wisconsin State League rival Kenosha Kings.

Defeat.

After posting an impressive winning streak that reached 15 games, Eau Claire (26-12, 9-7) was brought back down from its pedestal with a 6-3 loss at Carson Park in front of an announced 200 people.

The Cavs returned the favor, winning the nightcap, 6-2.

Eau Claire jumped on top early in the opener as Brad Archambeau tripled into the right-field gap, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Ty Fadness.

The Cavs would tack on another run in the fourth inning when Ben Otto doubled to score Lance Poppy from second base.

And that’s when Kenosha (14-10, 6-4) struck gold.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Kings rallied behind five hits and two walks to score six runs off Eau Claire starting pitcher Chevy Tollefson.

Eau Claire almost was able to salvage the inning, but two consecutive doubles with two outs would score four runs for Kenosha.

“They hit the ball well, we put some guys on with walks and there were a couple of plays we didn’t make,” Cavaliers manager Mark McHorney said.

“It might have taken a little air out of the sails, but I don’t think we were too comfortable.”

Game two was the definition of “pitchers duel,” as Eau Claire’s Justin Cooper and Kenosha’s Jon Kleinmeyer held both teams hitless until the fourth inning.

“There were a lot of zeros on the board,” McHorney said. “It’s a sign of good teams playing good ball.”

Cavaliers second baseman Matt Miller recorded the first hit of the game, rolling a precision bunt down the third-base line. Despite it being the only hit in the inning – and the game for that matter – it was a sign of good things to come.

Poppy walked, and Kyle Trewyn reached base on a throwing error, allowing the pair to move into scoring position.

Three errors, four hits and six runs later, the Cavaliers found themselves on top of the same situation that held them down in game one.

Cooper would hold down the fort but couldn’t quite reach the complete game, finishing with 6q innings pitched and nine strikeouts while allowing just two earned runs.

Brent Mueller came on and picked up the save, getting John Hasser to fly out to the third baseman Ben Kincaid.