Last night’s Box Score
MADISON, WI – June 19, 2009. The Mallards laid the wood onto the Woodchucks last night by blasting three home runs, two of which came off the bat of Joe Patterson (Texas A&M), en route to a 4-1 victory over Wisconsin. Madison looks to sweep the home-and-home set tonight, when they host the Woodchucks in a 7:05 p.m. start at the “Duck Pond”.
Derek Self (Louisville) pitched a gem in his Mallards debut. The righty went six scoreless innings, surrendering only three hits while striking out three. Self took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and beat Woodchucks starter Bobby Pritchett (1-2; Central Arkansas) who was coming off a no-hitter in his previous start entering the contest.
Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State) got to Pritchett in the second inning with a solo home run to right center field. In consecutive at-bats, Patterson launched a pair of solo bombs in the fourth and sixth innings to push the Mallard lead to 4-0. J.R. Graham (Santa Clara) then came in the ninth to nail down his first save of the season.
The Mallards will send Matt Morgan (1-0; Purdue) to the mound to try and close out the two-game set. The right hander currently has a 2.38 ERA in three starts spanning over 22.1 innings. In his last start, Morgan gave up three runs on six hits and struck out seven over 6.1 innings vs. La Crosse back on June 13, but settled for a no decision in the 4-3 loss.
Tonight at the “Duck Pond” will feature the Human Cannonball David “The Bullet” Smith in a post-game launch! Also, it’ll be Wolverine/X-Men Night with a special appearance by the Marvel Comics character. We’ll also hand out Oscar Mayer Reusable Grocery Bags to the first 1,000 fans and General Communications T-shirts to the first 500 fans!
Click here to purchase tickets for tonight’s ballgame or call us at 608.246.4277 today!
Mad Town Bombers
The Mallards lead the Northwoods League in home runs this year and by a wide margin. They already have hit 21 home runs through their first 21 games this year. Their 20 home runs this month is 11 more than Mankato, who ranks second in the league with nine home runs in June. Ten Mallards have hit at least one home run this season and seven have hit two or more. Harold Riggins (NC State) leads the team with four homers on the year while Adam McClain (Memphis) and now former Mallard Ben Long (UW-Milwaukee) each have three. Madison isn’t just hitting for power, they lead the league in batting average as well at a .277 clip for the season.
Closing Time
Madison has been perfect in closing out games in which they hold a lead late in the contest. The Mallards are 11-0 this year when leading after five innings and 13-0 when leading after the eighth. A steady diet of quality pitching performances has contributed to this as their team ERA currently stands at 2.90. What’s more impressive is that Madison has been in every game this season, having not allowed more than six runs in any of their 21 games so far this year.
