Down 4-0 in the top of the eighth, the Mallards dug deep to take command, scoring the game’s final five runs, including two in the ninth with two outs against them. The 5-4 victory split the series with Rochester, who took Tuesday’s game by a score of 3-2.

The Honkers took it to Madison early, tallying the first run in the bottom of the first after Raynor Campbell doubled and Chris Jones knocked him in.

Rochester followed the first run up with another in the third, as Brian Spear went deep on Mallards starting pitcher Craig Meier. The Honkers’ next and final two runs came in the fifth. Campbell provided the first run of the inning on another homer off Meier, and Jareck West scored on Jones’ second RBI of the game.

It was the top of the eighth when the Mallards found the energy to attack the home team. Brian Smith and Eric Nielsen connected on back-to-back at-bats to put two men on for Bobby Hubbard, who recorded his second triple of the year, scoring the two runners. Neil Medchill (pictured) later came through with an RBI to tighten the score to 4-3.

In the ninth, Randy Molina earned a base after being struck by a pitch and was replaced by Scott Heitshusen to run the bases. Justin Bristow put his teammate on third with a single, and Heitshusen eventually tied the game on a wild pitch. With Ryan Tinkoff coming in for Bristow and Evan LeBlanc replacing Nielsen at the plate, LeBlanc produced the game-winning RBI on a softly hit ball to right field, scoring Tinkoff from second.

Bubba O’Donnell stepped in to earn his sixth save of the year in the ninth, and reliever Tom Stilson (1-0) took his first victory of the year, as he came in during the eighth inning of play.

The Mallards remain on the road for another two-game series against a Northwoods League North Division team — this time against the Duluth Huskies at 7:05 p.m.