Madison, WI – June 15, 2008. A furious two-out Mallards rally in the seventh and final inning plated three runs and gave the squad a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Waterloo Bucks in game one of a doubleheader. Don Lambert (Baylor) pinch-ran after a Luke Stewart (UAB) double and scored the tying run on a wild pitch by Bucks reliever Bob Lackovic, and Russell Harben (South Alabama) redeemed himself after a pair of strikeouts with a single to left that scored Drew Martin (NC State) from second for the go-ahead run. Reed Woytek (Baylor) shut down the Bucks in the bottom of the seventh to earn the save.
The Father’s Day double-dip came as a result of a rainout between the two teams on Thursday. Both games in the doubleheader are seven-inning contests. Just like when the Bucks and Mallards faced off last week, the Bucks are the home team because the series was originally scheduled for Waterloo but had to be relocated because of heavy flooding.
Thanks to a Stewart RBI groundout the Mallards held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fifth, when the Bucks touched Mallards starter Bryan Earley (Lincoln Trail) for his first earned run of the season. Earley got Steven Irvine to ground out to third, but then walked Chance Harst and was relieved by Andy Deain (Northern Illinois). Deain disposed of Michael Giller and walked Bryan Resnick and Spencer Wiggins to load the bases with two away. Harst crossed the plate on a passed ball to tie the game, and then Deain gave up back-to-back singles to score Resnick and Wiggins. After a walk to Ryan Goins, Deain handed the ball over to Kyle Heim (Iowa) who got a strikeout to end the fifth and bring the Mallards offense back to the plate down 3-1.
Bucks starter Josh Rickards retired ten straight from the third to the sixth and went out to the mound to try for the seven-inning complete game effort. It looked as if he would work through the seventh just as easily as he had the middle innings, getting Eric Nielsen (Purdue) and Rob Lyerly (Charlotte) to ground out harmlessly. Joe De Pinto (USC), the last Mallards hope, hit a groundball to short but reached when Goins pulled new first baseman Harst off the base. Stewart followed with a double that scored De Pinto all the way from first. Rickards fell short of the complete game and ultimately the win, as Lackovic entered and gave up two more Mallards runs to make the score 4-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh, which would end up being the final score.
Heim earned the win with one-and-a-third innings of relief work, giving up one hit and striking out two. Lackovic took the loss and Woytek got the save for the Mallards, who won their fourth straight and moved to 10-5 ahead of the doubleheader finale against Waterloo.
