Madison, WI – July 10, 2009. Madison suffered its most difficult loss of the year as Alexandria scored five runs in the ninth inning off Dan Burawa (St. John’s) to steal a 6-3 win before 5,341 at the “Duck Pond” on Friday night. Eight strong innings from Alex Rivers (Santa Clara) went for not in the Mallards’ first loss at home in the second half.
Burawa was seeking his third save of the season and retired the first two batters with ease, but Alexandria made the most of its final out. They sent nine batters to the plate and put up five runs, highlighted by Tim Roberson’s (Florida Gulf Coast) 2-run double off the center field wall to cap the huge rally.
“In the ninth, you got to get one more out,” Manager C.J. Thieleke said. “But tip your hat to them, they were very very good in the ninth.”
The first eight innings belonged to Rivers who may have gone the distance had he not thrown so many pitches early on.
“We got a good effort from Alex,” Thieleke said. “His ball-to-strike ratio wasn’t good early, but he settled in and finally found himself in the sixth inning. We needed to extend him with the doubleheader coming up on Sunday and he did a nice job for us.”
Rivers faced two bases loaded jams, one happened in the third inning when he gave up a trio of singles to begin the frame, but a tailor made double play to the second baseman Jacob Esch (Georgia Tech) retired the side unscathed. It happened again in the fifth inning. With a run in already, the Beetles loaded the bases for Roberson, who stepped to the plate with a chance to redeem himself of an error he committed in the inning before.
He hit a ground ball to Esch at second and appeared to have beaten the double play at first after Jerrud Sabourin (Indiana) failed to make the scoop in the dirt. A run would have scored on the play, but the field umpire ruled that he made the scoop and dropped the ball on the transfer. The inning ended and a run came off the board keeping the Mallards in front 3-1.
Rivers ended up going eight strong innings, having faced one over the minimum in his final three innings of work. He scattered nine hits and allowed a run while throwing 117 pitches.
“It’s disappointing not to get a decision, but I was happy that I got better as I went,” Rivers said. “I didn’t have my breaking stuff today so it was good to see that I could get it done with my other two pitches.”
The Mallards scored their three runs in the fourth inning thanks to a Troy Channing RBI single and three Alexandria errors. Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State) and Harold Riggins (NC State) led off the inning with a pair of walks. Joe Patterson (Texas A&M) then stepped up and grounded one to first base, but Roberson couldn’t get his glove down quick enough and it skipped through to right field, scoring Ginther from second base. Another error on the throw home from the right fielder, Chase Porch (North Alabama), allowed Patterson to advance to second putting both runners in scoring position. Riggins then scored on a wild pitch before Channing singled home Patterson.
In the fifth, the Mallards had a chance to take on some more, but Handley was able to work his way out of a bases loaded jam of his own. After a Patterson pop up for out number one, Channing stepped up and grounded one to second base and the Beetles executed their second double play of the night to end the threat.
“We can’t let this game beat us two or three in a row,” Thieleke said. “We just need to rest up and come back out tomorrow.”
Tomorrow the Mallards will look to salvage the split behind the right arm of Matt Jansen (Purdue). The junior is 4-1 with a 3.34 ERA this season. He’ll face Alexandria’s Matt Fyffe (Eastern Kentucky). The righty is 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA this year. Saturday night’s first pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m. at the “Duck Pond”.
