Madison, WI – June 6, 2009. Last night, Adam McClain (Memphis) sent the “Duck Pond” into a frenzy following a walk-off Grand Slam to give the Mallards a 9-5 win over St. Cloud in the series opener. Madison remained unbeaten at home and pushed its winning streak up to six games, keeping pace with South Division leader Eau Claire (8-1) who also won its sixth straight last night.
It was McClain’s first home run of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Leading up to the eighth inning the Mallards (7-2) had little offense speak of, in fact, inconsistency on the pitching mound and three defensive errors resulted in a 5-2 deficit. Only after St. Cloud starter Logan Birr (St. Cloud State) finally departed after seven strong innings did the offense come to life.
The Mallards scored three runs in the eighth frame courtesy of a pair of singles by Brandon Wikoff (Illinois) and McClain, followed by a hit by pitch to Troy Channing (St. Marys) to load the bases. That brought up Harold Riggins (NC State), the hero of Monday night’s game when he hit a walk-off home run to defeat Rochester. Riggins’ one out single to left cut the deficit to 5-4 before Ben Long (UW-Milwaukee) tied it with an RBI groundout to first.
Matt Morgan (Purdue) will make his second start of the season. He’s 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA, having surrendered six hits while striking out seven over 10 innings of work this year. In his first start, Morgan scattered five hits, struck out five and walked four over eight innings to get an 8-0 win over Brainerd on May 31. He’ll look for another strong effort tonight against the River Bats.
St. Cloud hasn’t announced its starting pitcher of yet, but be sure to make it out to the “Duck Pond” tonight for one of the best promotions of the year, the Great Dane Summertime St. Patty’s Night/Go Green Night! And stick around for post-game fireworks too!
Don’t want to drive? Stop by Claddagh Irish Pub in Middleton to ride a free shuttle to the “Duck Pond” at 6:00 p.m. and back immediately following a Mallards victory! Come early; a limited number of free Duck Blind tickets will be given away to those first in line!
