Nick Rice (MATC) will make his first start of the season tonight against the La Crosse Loggers.
Madison, WI – July 30, 2009. The Mallards will look to change their fortunes tonight a day after losing handily, 10-2 to the La Crosse Loggers in front of a season-high 7,465 fans at the “Duck Pond” Wednesday night. The Mallards are now one-half game back of the Loggers and one game ahead of the Waterloo Bucks with 11 games remaining.
Starting tonight for the Mallards is left-hander Nick Rice (MATC) who will be making his first start of the season after posting a 3.00 ERA over three innings in relief thus far after being signed late in the summer by the team on July 15.
La Crosse will counter with left-hander Aaron Gates (Pepperdine) who is 1-3 with a 2.70 ERA over 30 innings, including four starts. Opponents are hitting only .189 against him and he has accumulated 27 strikeouts over that span.
He picked up his third loss in his last start on July 25 against the Alexandria Beetles after allowing four earned runs in 3.1 innings of work. He walked a season-high seven hitters.
A two-way player, Gates has made 23 starts at first base and 21 in left field while hitting .303 with 9 doubles, 6 home runs, and 28 RBI over 56 games. He has 16 multi-hit games on the year. Gates was also named to the Northwoods League Mid-Season All-Star Game two weeks ago.
Hicks gets hot
In his last nine games Hicks is hitting .387 (12-for-31) with six runs scored and one RBI. He is now batting .263 with 7 doubles, 2 home runs, and 9 RBI over 25 games this summer.
Northwoods League Players of the Night
Position Player
Aaron Conway (Missouri State) – Conway finished 6-for-10 on the day in the Green Bay Bullfrogs doubleheader split with the Eau Claire Express Wednesday. Conway’s speed was on full display as he had a triple, scored four runs, stole three bases, and drove in one.
Pitcher
Ian Campbell (Yavapai) – In the first game of a day/night doubleheader between the aforementioned Bullfrogs and Express, Campbell threw two innings and allowed only one run in the Eau Claire loss. But his most important outing came in the nightcap. Campbell came in facing a 4-2 deficit and needed to keep the game close. Campbell did just that as he pitched three scoreless innings to give the Express a chance. Eau Claire scored one run in the fifth and two in the sixth and they look the lead 5-4 to give Campbell the victory. For the day he finished with five innings pitched, one run, three hits, one walk, and five strikeouts.
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On Thursday the first 1,000 kids, 14 & under will receive a Physicians Plus Tin Lunch Box and the first 1,000 fans will receive at Holiday Inn at the American Center Yo-Yo. It’ll also be The Simpson’s Night, as anyone named Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, or Maggie will receive a free bleacher ticket (day of game only!).
Click here to purchase tickets for any of the five remaining Mallards regular season games or please call the box office at 608.246.4277 today!
