Green Bay, WI – June 5, 2008. The Mallards received another quality start on the hill against the Green Bay Bullfrogs tonight, this time from Kyle Barry (MATC), as they earned the series sweep with a 6-1 victory at Green Bay’s Joannes Stadium. Barry pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits and striking out eight. Mallards pitching allowed two runs and 13 hits in the two games at Green Bay. The squad improves to 6-2 on the season.
The Mallards offense reached double-digits in hits for the fifth time this season. The bottom four in the order accounted for seven of the 11 hits, with Brandon Haveman (Purdue), Russell Harben (South Alabama) and Don Lambert (Baylor) each having two.
The Mallards took advantage of their opportunities to score their six runs, three of which were scored on errors and two of which were scored on wild pitches. Purdue teammates Eric Nielsen and Haveman led off the second with back-to-back singles, and both advanced one base on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Smith (Northern Illinois). Harben grounded out to shortstop, scoring Nielsen and moving Haveman to third. Haveman then advanced the final 90 feet on a wild pitch by Bullfrogs starter Jon Gulbransen that got past Nick O’Shea behind the plate.
In the third Brandon Wikoff (Illinois) singled to left and went to second on Joe De Pinto’s second sacrifice bunt of the night. Luke Stewart (UAB) then reached on an error by Gulbransen, which scored Wikoff. Two batters later Haveman doubled home Stewart to give the Mallards a 4-0 advantage after two-and-a-half innings. The Mallards added another in the fifth, again thanks to a Bullfrogs miscue. Smith singled to start the inning and went to third on a well-executed hit-and-run by Harben. He became the fifth Mallards run after crossing the plate on a wild pitch.
The Mallards extended the lead to 6-0 in the sixth after Smith reached on an error by the second baseman and scored on an error by the first baseman. O’Shea tried to back-pick Lambert at first with Smith on third, and when he let go of the ball Smith broke to home and scored when the return throw by David Casey went wild.
Barry flew through the first six innings, allowing just three hits and retiring 12 straight at one point and 15 of 16. He also struck out eight Bullfrogs batters in the first six innings. In the fourth he got a trio of groundouts, and it was a pair of strikeouts and a diving play by Wikoff at short that got him through the sixth. The Bullfrogs got on the scoreboard in the seventh thanks to a couple of base hits by the bottom of the order. Nathan Kafka (Minnesota State) relieved Barry in the eighth and allowed just one base hit before giving way to Andy Deain (Northern Illinois), who pitched the ninth.
The Mallards return home tomorrow night for a game against La Crosse at 7:05 p.m., and will then travel to La Crosse for the second game of the series on Saturday night. Tomorrow will be Dejope “A Little Vegas Right Here In Madison” Night, and will feature an appearance by the King! It is also Luxury Bath Systems Rubber Ducky Night (first 1,000 kids 14 & under receive a Mallards Rubber Ducky) and General Communications T-Shirt Night (first 1,000 fans) at the “Duck Pond.”
