Eau Claire, WI – June 26, 2009. Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) hit a go-ahead two-out single to score Harold Riggins (NC State) in the 12th inning to give the Mallards a much-needed 3-2 victory over the Eau Claire Express Friday night at Carson Park.
The three hour and 49 minute affair was a nail-biter throughout as both teams had a number of scoring opportunities but were unable to capitalize throughout the game. Madison left 14 runners stranded while Eau Claire left 9.
In the first, Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State) only to be followed by a Joe Patterson (Texas A&M) 4-1 putout to end the threat.
Then in the top of the third, after center fielder Chris Barker (MATC) picked up his second hit of the year, Joe De Pinto (USC) was hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Jerrud Sabourin (Indiana). Sabourin then answered with an infield single to load the bases. With only one out, the inning now looked very promising. However, Ginther and cleanup hitter Patterson were unable to make contact and both struck out to strand three more runners.
In the bottom half of the inning Mallards starting pitcher Alex Rivers (Santa Clara) looked nearly unhittable, striking out the side including the 1-2-3 batters in the Express lineup. Down went Nolan Fadness (UW-Oshkosh), Brooks Pinckard (Baylor), and Rafael Neda (New Mexico) as Rivers’ curveball was starting to take form.
Neither team was able to muster a run until the top of the fourth when Esch hit a one-out single, his second hit of the game, to generate some excitement. Trent Soares (Fresno State) then followed with an infield single to third baseman Matt Fritz (Bradley) who tried getting the force out at second base but was late with the throw. After a Tyson Blaser (Iowa) strikeout, Barker calmly stroked another single to score Esch and give the Mallards a 1-0 lead. That would be it though, as De Pinto singled to load the bases and Sabourin followed with a bases-loaded strikeout.
Rivers mowed through the Express bottom of the fourth by striking out Andy Leonard (UIC) and Jon Ringenburg (Baylor) to move his strikeout total to eight.
Eau Claire did answer back in the bottom of the fifth when Drew Heithoff (Augustana) was hit by a pitch and was able to advance all the way to third base on a catching error by first baseman Riggins and a wild pitch by Rivers. Heithoff then scored on another wild pitch during Fadness’ at-bat to tie the game at 1.
After a disappointing top half of the sixth in which Ginther again struck out with the bases loaded to end the frame, the Express countered in the bottom half to take the lead.
Pinckard led off the inning with a triple and Neda scorched a ball to deep left field. Mallards outfielder Barker would make an amazing backwards leaping catch to record the out, but the damage was already done as Pinckard scored on the deep sacrifice. Eau Claire would carry the 2-1 lead all the way until the top of the eighth inning.
In the eighth, Blaser led off with a popout to the second baseman and the suddenly hot-hitting Barker followed with a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a strikeout. Up came De Pinto who calmly watched two balls and a called strike before belting an inside pitch over the left field wall for a game-tying solo home run.
The game would remain tied until the top of the 12th inning.
In a contest the Mallards oh-so-badly needed to win, Riggins then wrapped a one-out double to get the Express back on their heels. After Esch made an out, Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) provided a clutch two-out single to right field to plate Riggins and take the lead 3-2.
In the bottom half of the 12th it was all Mallards reliever Denny Clement (Texas A&M). After Fritz walked with one out and stole second base, Clement settled down and got Fadness to fly out to left field. The flame-thrower then decided to end the game a batter later by getting Nate Baumann (Augustana) to strike out and end the Mallards six game losing streak. He received his second win of the year after recording the game’s final eight outs without allowing a run (his ERA remains 0.00). Clement also struck out five Express batters.
Meanwhile Express reliever Campbell (3-2) picked up the loss after allowing that lone run in the twelfth inning.
Mallards pitching coach Jason Immekus had to be pleased with Rivers’ start that had the right-hander going six innings, while allowing only one earned run. He also struck out nine batters and lowered his ERA to 2.08 on the year.
Madison is now 3 games behind the Express with 6 games left in the first half.
The Mallards open a two-game homestand against the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers Saturday evening, while the Express now travel to Green Bay for two-games beginning tomorrow.
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