Winners in four of their last five and seven of their last ten, the Mallards (5-3, 28-16) currently find themselves in a three-way tie at the top of the South division in the second half of the 2016 Northwoods League season. Madison will welcome the Rockford Rivets (5-3, 22-22) to the Duck Pond on Thursday night, looking to top Rockford for the fourth time in five meetings this summer.
The Mallards will throw Westin Wuethrich (Washington) against the Rivets on Wednesday, with the right-hander still looking to pick up his first win of the summer. Wuethrich is 0-3 across five appearances and three starts, posting a 6.00 ERA in the process. He will match up with a Rockford team that is currently last in the Northwoods League in hits, carrying a road batting average of .213.
The Rivets will hand the ball to Tyler Thornton (Tennessee Wesleyan), who will be making his fifth start of the 2016 campaign. The 6’5,” 280-pund right-hander is currently 1-0 with a 3.41 ERA, recording 27 strikeouts in 26.1 innings of work.
In their two-game sweep of Kenosha on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kingfish were unable to muster a run off of Mallards pitchers for 17 straight frames. The Kingfish hit a homerun on the first pitch of the ballgame on Tuesday, but were unable to score a run for the rest of the series. Madison pitchers have a 1.02 ERA over the last five contests.
Nate Palace (Valparaiso) has hit a home run in two consecutive games, including a moonshot in Kenosha on Wednesday night. Palace has now hit three home runs on the year.
Tonight’s game against the Rockford Rivets will get underway at 7:05 pm from the Duck Pond at Warner Park. The contest will feature a Pepsi Double Decker Pizza Bus Maynard bobblehead giveaway. Tickets are available for purchase by visiting MallardsBaseball.com, calling the Mallards ticket office at 608-246-4277, or stopping in the ticket office at 2920 N Sherman Ave.
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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 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball, 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 150 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 (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.mallardsbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the Mallards as your favorite team.
