Centerfielder Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) had two singles and scored once to contribute in the 4-1 victory Saturday night.
Waterloo, IA – July 25, 2009. The Mallards scored three runs in the tenth inning to break away from the Waterloo Bucks in a 4-1 victory at Riverfront Stadium that puts Madison back in sole possession of first place with 15 games left in the second half of the 2009 season.
The first place La Crosse Loggers (11-8) lost to the Alexandria Beetles (10-8) by a score of 6-4 and are now a half-game back of Madison (11-7).
Mallards All-Star outfielder Jerrud Sabourin (Indiana), who on this night was moved to first base to relieve designated hitter Harold Riggins (NC State) of his defensive duties, hit a two-RBI single in the extra frame to score Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) and Jacob Esch (Georgia Tech) to extend their lead to 4-1. This came after catcher Tyson Blaser (Iowa) was drilled by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Chris Barker (MATC) that proved to be the game’s winning RBI.
Sabourin finished with a 3-for-5 performance that included three RBI while Parque added two hits of his own. All-Star MVP Kurtis Muller (Iowa) also singled three times and scored the Mallards first run in the first inning after leading off the game with his second triple of the season and Sabourin hit a sacrifice fly to left field.
The performance by Madison’s starting pitcher Matt Jansen (Purdue) shouldn’t be overlooked, however. Jansen was extremely sharp throughout in throwing 7.1 innings while only allowing one run to lower his ERA to 2.62. He also struck out a season-high 11 batters in the no-decision.
Mallards closer Denny Clement (Texas A&M), who hasn’t pitched since July 9, picked up the win (3-0) after not allowing a hit or run to retire the Bucks’ last six outs.
Meanwhile, Bucks reliever Zach Cooper (Central Michigan) (2-1) picked up his first loss of the season after allowing three runs in two innings.
Waterloo scored its lone run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Troy White (Northern Illinois) sacrifice choice to score Adrian Williams (UCLA) that tied the game at 1.
These same two teams will battle again Sunday at 3:05 p.m. Catch all Mallards action on the road by dialing in to FM 100.5 ESPN or by visiting espnmadison.com. To watch the games live, visit Mallardsbaseball.com and click on “Game Day” on the header to begin your viewing experience right away!
The Mallards return home to the “Duck Pond” on Wednesday, July 29 for Schoep’s Ice Cream Maynard Pitching Bobblehead (first 1,000 fans). Plenty of great seats are available and can be purchased by clicking here or by calling us at 608.246.4277 today!
