Jerrud Sabourin (Indiana), arguably the Mallards most consistent hitter all season, added two doubles last night and raised his batting average to .299 on the year.
Last night’s Box Score
Rochester, MN- August 6, 2009. The Mallards will look to rebound after last night’s tough 15-9 loss to the Rochester Honkers as Madison will send left-hander Matt Jansen (Purdue) to the hill Thursday to help keep the team in first place with five games left in the Northwoods League second half of the season.
The Mallards (16-12) are now only one-half game ahead of the second place La Crosse Loggers (16-13) and two games in front of the Battle Creek Bombers (15-15). La Crosse travels to Eau Claire Thursday for a 6:35 p.m. tilt as part of a home-and-home series after defeating the Express 3-1 on Wednesday. The Bombers remain at home to take on the Green Bay Bullfrogs at 6:05 p.m. after losing by a score of 10-8 last night.
Jansen, a 2008 NWL Mid-Season All-Star, will make his franchise-tying 12th start of the season after posting a 6-2 record and 2.71 ERA over 66.1 innings thus far in 2009. In his last start he allowed four runs (3 earned) over six innings in receiving his second loss of the season as the Mallards were defeated by the Waterloo Bucks 6-3. He did make a short 22-pitch appearance on Tuesday against St. Cloud and didn’t allow a run while striking out one. Jansen has yet to face the Honkers this season.
Meanwhile, the Honkers will counter with power left-hander Zach Robertson (Iowa) on the bump who will make his 12th start of the season like Jansen, and has posted a 4-3 record and 2.92 ERA through 71 innings pitched. In his last start on July 31, Robertson received his third loss of the season after allowing four earned runs over seven innings while striking out seven. He did face the Mallards once before, in the second meeting between these two teams on June 2 in Madison, and struck out a season-high 13 batters while allowing five earned runs over 5.2 innings of work. Even with that impressive strikeout total he was saddled with his first loss of the summer.
Rochester has now won three games in a row while last night’s loss snapped the Mallards three-game winning streak.
Bits & Pieces:
Jansen ties record
With his 12th start tonight, Jansen will tie former Mallards pitchers Justin Fuller (North Florida), Rene Recio (Oral Roberts), Robbie Van (UNLV), Phillip Martinez (NW Louisianna) for the most starts in a single-season in the team’s nine-year history.
Parque turns around
Outfielder Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) is now hitting .260 after accumulating nine hits in his last five games. This statistic is even more impressive considering he was hitting a paltry .140 just a month ago on July 7. From July 12 to August 4 Parque hit safely in 14 of 19 games.
RBI mark to fall?
Harold Riggins (NC State) remains one RBI from tying the franchise’s single-season record of 48 set last year by Rob Lyerly (Charlotte). The powerful slugger continues to hit for average (.305) after adding two more base-knocks in Wednesday’s loss. Riggins is featured in September’s issue of “Baseball America” due in newsstands soon.
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Madison returns home this Friday, August 7 for their LAST four regular season games beginning at 7:05 p.m.
Friday’s promotions include the Dejope Little Bit of Vegas Night with a special appearance by The King, and the Boston’s Restaurant & Sports Bar Mini Bat Night (first 500 kids!). On top of that, the fan who records the fastest pitch thrown in the Mallards “Speed Pitch” will win the opportunity to throw against Hall of Famer Paul Molitor in the MLB Alumni Game on August 21 at the “Duck Pond.” We can’t forget the “World’s Largest Candy Drop” that will occur after the game either. Over 2,000 pieces of candy, including 1,000 packs of Quench Gum, will be dropped 100′ from a lift in center field towards an outfield packed full of kids. You won’t want to miss this!
Plently of great seats are available for this weekend’s games and can be purchased online by clicking here, or by calling the box office at 608.246.4277 today!
