Published On: June 5th, 2015

6-11 pre game CROPPEDMadison, Wis. – On Thursday, June 11, the Madison Mallards (8-7) will welcome the Lakeshore Chinooks (8-7) to Warner Park for a first tilt of a two-game South Division series at the Duck Pond.

Tonight’s contest marks the third matchup of the season between Madison and Lakeshore after the teams split a two-game set at Kapco Park earlier this month. First pitch for this evening’s series opener is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Mallards field manager Donnie Scott will call upon right-handed pitcher Nick Gruener (Harvard) to make his third start of the summer tonight against the Chinooks. The 6-foot-1 native of Miami Palmetto, Fla., holds true to a 0-1 record, 2.79 ERA and 1.45 WHIP across his first two outings (9.2 IP), during which he has struck out eight and walked three. His June 5 appearance against Willmar yielded three earned runs across 4.2 innings.

To counter, Lakeshore has assigned right-handed pitcher Brian Keller (UW-Milwaukee) with his third starting job of the 2015 season. Keller, originally from Germantown, Wis., maintains a record of 0-2 and 6.54 ERA coming into Thursday’s series opener, a span of playing time (11.0 IP) in which he has whiffed 11 hitters and walked just one. His junior collegiate campaign culminated in a 3.51 ERA and Horizon League-leading 74.1 innings.

  • From the Manager – “We’re running into problems when we don’t throw strikes,” Scott said,” and we’re running into problems when we don’t catch the baseball. Now, we’re trying to correct some of our hitting problems. For Nick (Gruener), he’s got good stuff, but just needs to command the zone and that’s it.”
  • Andonov Excels – Martin Andonov (Bulgaria) made his third relief appearance of the summer Wednesday night, logging one scoreless and hit-less inning in which he fanned one batter and walked none. The 5-foot-9 southpaw has allowed just one earned run with four strikeouts and no walks across 3.1 frames for the Mallards bullpen.
  • Mean Jean – Green Bay Bullfrog baserunners attempted a grand total of five stolen bases Wednesday night against Mallards catcher Jean Ramirez (Illinois State), only two of which were successful. The three thrown-out baserunners marked a single-game, season-high mark for Ramirez.

Tonight’s game will feature an appearance by ‘BirdZerk!’ at the Duck Pond. There will also be a Stuffed Animal Maynard Giveaway for fans at the front entrance of the stadium. For tickets, call the Mallards ticket office at 608-246-4277 or visit MallardsBaseball.com for more information.

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The Madison Mallards are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.MallardsBaseball.com

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