It might only be mid-June, but the atmosphere at the Duck Pond Saturday night was electric as the second biggest crowd of the 2005 season (6,076) was on hand to see two first place squads take the field and they did not disappoint. Fittingly the two teams needed extra innings, but the Thunder Bay Border Cats squeaked out a 3-2 victory in ten innings, giving the Mallards their second straight loss.

With two outs in the tenth inning Ramon Corona tripled for the Border Cats and was followed by Joey Lieberman providing an RBI base hit off Tim Gudex. The Mallards loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the tenth, but Shawn Williams got Danny Dressman to pop out to third then struck out Randy Molina to earn his fifth save of the season.

Kris Rochelle had three hits for the Mallards, going three-for-five; while Mike Rohde continued his hot hitting, going two-for-five with a run scored. Ryan Rogowski and Ryan Bond each provided an RBI for the Mallards (12-5), who remained in first place in the South Division with La Crosse losing to St. Cloud.

The Mallards and Border Cats are back in action Sunday afternoon at 3:05, as Casey Baron (1-0) is set to take the mound for the Mallards against Jon Mueller (0-0) for the Border Cats. Great tickets for tomorrow afternoon?s contest are still available and are available for purchase online at www.mallardsbaseball.com or by phone at 246.4277.