Madison, WI – July 12, 2009. The Mallards (6-4, 25-19) were unable to overcome a rough first inning during Sunday’s game two of a day-night doubleheader in a 6-1 loss to the Battle Creek Bombers in front of 4,572 fans at the “Duck Pond.”
In that first inning Mallards starting pitcher Jordan Hershiser (USC) led off the game by hitting left fielder Chris Bangi (Campbell). After a strikeout by second baseman Doug Otto (Virginia Commonwealth), that allowed Bangi to advance to second, Hershiser then proceeded to walk designated hitter Chris Lewis (Western Michigan) to put two men on. The theme continued as Josh Valle (Marshall) was then walked by Hershiser to load the bases and bring catcher Parker Berberet (Cypress College) to the plate. The Mallards 6’8″ right hander was able to bear down and strike out Berberet, and it appeared that he’d be able to get out of the jam. However, an error by third baseman Troy Channing (St. Mary’s) on a ball hit by Matt Miraldi (Cal State L.A.) allowed the Bombers to score two runs to take the first lead.
Madison would answer in the third after center fielder Kurtis Muller (Iowa) led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a one-out stolen base during Harold Riggins’ (NC State) at-bat. After Riggins eventually struck out, first baseman John Hicks (Virginia) strolled to the plate and laced a base knock to score Muller and cut the Bombers’ lead to one.
However, that would be the only time the Mallards crossed home plate, as the opposing Bombers (6-4, 27-16) were able to tally four more scores, two in the sixth and two in the eighth inning to push the final score to 6-1.
In the sixth, Otto added to the lead by hitting a two-run homer to the Mallards bullpen in left field to score Bangi who had walked earlier.
Even though he didn’t allow a hit, Hershiser (1-2) was saddled with the loss after walking five batters and allowing two runs (0 earned). He also struck out five batters.
Bombers’ starter Matt Talley (The Citadel) picked up the win (5-2) after allowing only one run in seven innings while striking out five.
Muller led the Madison offense with a 3-for-4 day and a run scored. He is now hitting .302 on the year.
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In game one of the doubleheader the Mallards fell to the Bombers by the same score as Battle Creek capitalized on two Madison errors and 10 walks to send 6,861 fans home unhappy.
The Mallards now get to enjoy an off day on Monday before traveling to La Crosse for a two-game set beginning Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Copeland Park.
Catch all Mallards action on the road by dialing in to FM 100.5 ESPN or by visiting espnmadison for a live stream of the game. Or, to view live video, simply click on “Game Day” on Mallardsbaseball.com to begin your experience today!
Madison returns home for a 4-game homestand beginning this Friday against the Green Bay Bullfrogs.
