The red-hot Madison Mallards ran into an equally hot arm tonight, as Jay Buente simply dominated the Mallards, helping the Wisconsin Woodchucks beat the Mallards 3-1 Sunday evening at Warner Park. Buente pitched six and one-third innings of four hit baseball, striking out four and allowing only one run. Mallard starter Ryan Zink scattered eight hits and allowed three runs in seven innings. The Madison native didn?t make it easy for the Woodchucks as he struck out seven batters while walking none.

Chad Frk knocked in the lone Mallard run with a base hit in the seventh inning to cut the Wisconsin lead to 3-1. Doug Beck, Ryan Rogowski, Jay Johnson, and Mike Dury were the only other Mallards to record a hit. Mark Moriarty pitched the final two innings for the Mallards, striking out three batters to maintain his perfect 0.00 ERA.

The Mallards (13-5) look to increase their first-place, South Division lead and pull away from the Bucks tomorrow night in Waterloo. The next two games are the last of the season between the two front runners in the South Division. The next Mallards home game is Thursday, July 29th against the St. Cloud River Bats at 7:05 PM. The Mallards organization suggests purchasing tickets for remaining home games ahead of time either online at www.mallardsbaseball.com, or at our office located at Warner Park.