Carter and Buckley Back for 2016 Season
The Madison Mallards have announced the return of catcher Bryce Carter (Stanford University) and pitcher Andrew Buckley (University of California- Berkeley) for the 2016 season.
Carter, a 6’1”, 195-pound sophomore from Tulsa, Oklahoma will return to the Mallards backstop in 2016. Carter put up an impressive regular season in the 2015 summer, batting .274 with an on-base percentage of .410. He was an absolute wall behind the plate with a fielding percentage of .983 and adding eight assists. Carter is looking to translate his impressive first summer in the Northwoods League into a successful sophomore campaign with his Cardinal squad.
Carter was a highly decorated student-athlete at Cascia Hall Prep High School. Among Carter’s awards, are 2014 Louisville Slugger First-Team High School All-American, 2014 Perfect Game Second-Team All-American, and First-Team All-West Region. He also won the 2014 Ferguson Jenkins Oklahoma Scholar-Athlete Award. Additionally, Carter was named 2014 Tulsa World Metro High School Player of the Year while leading his team to the 2014 state quarterfinals.
In the summer of 2014, Carter played for the CCL Pufcats, where he was named a California Collegiate League All-Star. Carter was also drafted in the 40th round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres.
Buckley, a 6’1”, 235-pound redshirt-sophomore from Concord, California returns to the Mallards pitching staff looking to bounce back after sitting out 2015 with an arm injury. Buckley pitched for the Mallards back in 2014, where he appeared in 22 games with a 2-0 record including one save. Buckley threw 35.1 innings, striking out a team-high 43 batters and posted an ERA of 4.07.
In 2014, his freshman year with the Golden Bears, he appeared in nine games, pitching 12.1 innings tallying three strikeouts and one save. As a junior at De La Salle High School, Buckley posted a 5-2 record with a 1.71 ERA. He also pitched two complete games and struck out an impressive 53 batters.
The Mallards will host their home opener on Friday, June 3rd when they take on the new Northwoods League affiliate from Rockford, IL. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm. Single-game tickets for the 2016 season will go on sale at 9:00 am on Saturday, April 30th.
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The Madison Mallards are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2016, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website. For more information, visit www.MallardsBaseball.com