MADISON, WI \u2014 After a three day All-Star break, the Kalamazoo Growlers returned to the diamond Thursday evening, falling on the road to the Madison Mallards, 5-4.<\/p>\n
It was a packed house at the \u201cDuck Pond\u201d and the energy throughout the stadium certainly added to the excitement on the field.<\/p>\n
Madison struck first against Kalamazoo right hander Anthony Bennetti, with Mallards catcher Drake Baldwin doubling to lead off the frame before coming around to score on a passed ball. However, the Growlers quickly responded against the Madison bullpen. A Brett Barrera RBI double off the center field wall plated Henry Gargus, and after plenty of patience at the plate, a bases loaded walk to Don Goodes was enough to bring Barrera home. The Growlers lead 2-1 through four frames.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Madison struck back in the bottom of the fifth. After hitting two home runs in two games against Kalamazoo at Homer Stryker Field, Matt Scannell struck again. This time, a 2-RBI double was enough to put Madison on top, 3-2. The Mallards would add one additional run in the inning.<\/p>\n
The Growlers, though, came roaring back. An RBI single from Gargus made it a 4-3 game in the seventh and Kalamazoo was threatening with two on and nobody out, but neither runner could be plated in the inning.<\/p>\n
After a scoreless inning of relief from both Nolan Lepkoske and Kyle Salley, Trey Nordmann entered for the Growlers in the bottom of the eighth. Northwoods League All-Star Alex Iadisernia knocked an RBI single up the middle to grant Madison an insurance run at 5-3.<\/p>\n
Luke Storm singled home Gargus in the ninth to make it 5-4, but ultimately was left stranded at second as the tying run to end the ballgame, as Mallards reliever Jared Fong threw over 50 pitches to record the final 8 outs of the ball game and secure the victory for Madison.<\/p>\n
The Growlers fall to 20-31 on the season, looking for a split on Friday at 7:35 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MADISON, WI \u2014 After a three day All-Star break, the Kalamazoo Growlers returned to the diamond Thursday evening, falling on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":16543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,31,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-recaps","category-permanentslider","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n