The Madison Mallards have come to an agreement with Marc Rardin, the Mallards Inaugural Season Manager, to return for a second campaign at the Duck Pond. Rardin guided the Mallards to a 29-35 record last summer. Rardin, currently the Recruiting Coordinator & Pitching coach at Yavapai JC in Arizona, will start to re-sign select players from last years squad, and begin recruiting efforts for new players immediately.

Rardin is excited to begin the recruiting process for next years club saying ?Playing in a city as exciting, and beautiful as Madison is a huge recruiting tool all by itself. A kid would definitely rather play here than most other cities in the league based on that alone.? He continued, ?If you add to that the kind of crowds we drew towards the end, and the park we play in, we should definitely be one of the top teams in the league next year. The word is really spreading across the country that Madison is a great place to play.?

The teams Director Of Marketing & Player Operations Vern Stenman added ?Having the same Manager back for a second year is a huge advantage, we can really start to build some consistency with Marc returning. Marc knows what to expect in this league, and can really use that to his advantage next summer.?

Rardin expects a handful of players from last years squad to return, but was unable to commit to exactly which players they would be at this time.

The Mallards 2002 season will open early in June at the Duck Pond at Warner Park. Also keep your eyes on Mallardsbaseball.com, the official web site of the Mallards, for some new features in the coming week. Mallard?s season tickets are available for only $150 for all 32 Mallards home games at the Mallards office.