Madison, Wisc. – Fresh off the All-Star Break, the rested La Crosse Loggers fell to the Mallards in Madison tonight 5-4. Kevin Flemer pitched well, but two 9th inning runs allowed Madison to prevail.
The Mallards struck first in the opening inning on a leadoff single by Logan Regnier (Central Michigan). A stolen base, then a two-out double by Scott Tyler (Ball State) put Madison on the boards 1-0 early.
La Crosse immediately answered in the top of the 2nd. Jordan Zimmerman (Michigan State) and Alex Merritt (North Florida) singled back-to-back to lead off the inning. An error by the left fielder was enough to score Zimmerman from second base, tying the game at 1-1. Chris Baker (Washington) brought in the 2nd run on a RBI groundout.
Ryan Kirby (San Diego) got the 4th inning started for the Loggers with a bang, hitting a ground rule double with one out. Mason McCoy got his 90th hit of the season, scoring Kirby to extend the Logger lead to 3-1.
Logan Regnier singled with two outs in the 5th. Anthony Gonsolin (St. Mary’s College) reached on an error by Jordan Zimmerman. Regnier came around to score from second base.
Kevin Flemer (Oregon State) pitched six innings for the Lumbermen, giving up on earned run on five hits. He also walked one, but struck out five batters.
The Loggers got the run back when Mason McCoy walked and scored on a Brock Lundquist RBI single to make the game 4-2.
Madison fought back in the 8th with back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. An error by Baker allowed Anthony Gonsolin to score.
A walk and a single in the 9th was the end for Logger reliever Jordan Jess (Minnesota). Ty Provencher (Long Beach State) came in with no outs and the winning run in scoring position. He struck out two straight batters, but couldn’t get the third as a single by Jean Ramirez brought in two runs to win the game 5-4.
With the loss, La Crosse is 13-9 in the second half, two games behind the division-leading Kingfish. They are now 32-24 overall, but still own the final wild card spot by six games. La Crosse and Madison square off again tomorrow at the Duck Pond. Game time is 7:05, don’t forgot the game on the Logger Radio Network. Pre-game starts at 6:30.