Bacon, Smith, Armstrong Set to Represent the Mallards This Summer

By: Kyle Tooley

The Madison Mallards have signed three players from the state of Florida, adding Troy Bacon (Santa Fe College), Alex Smith (University of North Florida) and Sam Armstrong (Jacksonville University) to the team.

Bacon, a 6’1,” 180-pound freshman from Tampa, Florida, is finding success early on in his college career. Bacon owns a 0.47 ERA over 38.1 innings and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7.3/1.  He leads the Saints in ERA (0.47) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.37).

 A four-year varsity starter at Sickles High School, Bacon was able to show off his skills as a pitcher as well as at the plate. The righty posted a 2.03 ERA over his career, including a sub-1.40 ERA between his junior and senior seasons, leading to his two Golden Arm awards. In addition to his performance on the mound, Bacon hit .322 lifetime while at Sickles, earning two Golden Bat achievements as well.

Smith, a 6’3,” 185-pound right-hander is in his third active season at North Florida. The Tampa product is 3-0 with a team-leading 1.42 ERA, and across 19 innings of work, opposing batters are hitting just .190 against him.

As a sophomore at North Florida, Smith struck out 29 over 26.2 innings of work, posting a 5-1 record. In his freshman season, the righty posted a perfect 0.00 ERA across four games, striking out five in the process.

While in high school, Smith helped lead his Braulio Alonso High baseball team to two state titles, in 2008 and 2011.

Armstrong, a 6’0,” 185-pound third baseman from Ocala, Florida, is currently in his sophomore season for the Dolphins. Armstrong has a .254 batting average and is third on the team in home runs (4), RBIs (24) and at-bats (185).

As a freshman at Jacksonville, Armstrong hit .269 with 26 RBIs in 104 at-bats and was second on the team with three home runs.

While at Ocala Forest High School, Armstrong was a two-year varsity starter and hit .327 with 39 RBIs across his junior and senior seasons.

The Mallards will host their home opener on Friday, June 3rd when they take on the new Northwoods League affiliate Rockford Rivets.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm.  Single-game tickets for the 2016 season are on sale NOW!  Tickets are available for purchase by visiting MallardsBaseball.com, calling the Mallards ticket office at 608-246-4277, or stopping in the ticket office at 2920 N Sherman Ave.

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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