Opening day for the 2005 Madison Mallards season is less than a month away and several players on this year?s roster continue to perform well during their collegiate seasons. Returning right-handed pitcher Zach Peterson picked up his sixth consecutive win of the season this weekend for Illinois-Chicago. Peterson is 7-1 with a 3.62 earned run average in 15 appearances. Kelly Sweppenhiser, a third baseman at Virginia Military Institute, was eight for 13 this weekend. He was five for six in a win over Liberty and is leading the Keydets in batting (.388), doubles (16), home runs (11) and RBI (37).

St. John?s outfielder Will Vogl knocked his sixth home run of the season. He has started 39 of 41 games for the Red Storm and his hitting .291 with 33 RBI. Vogl is 11th in the country with six triples.

Left-hander Jake Hansen, who was a Mallard in 2003, picked up his second win of the season for Northern Iowa. He pitched five scoreless innings scattering three hits to improve to 2-2 on the season.

Returning right-hander Mike Creevy improved to 3-5 on the season. He has a 4.19 ERA and two saves in 16 appearances.

Beloit native Kyle Murphy is hitting .394 with a .702 slugging percentage and 36 RBI for Indian Hills Community College (Iowa). Murphy will be returning to the Mallards for his second season in Madison.