After being held to just a hit in a 3-1 loss on Friday evening, the Madison Mallards (6-5, 29-18) used an all around team effort to defeat the Kenosha Kingfish (3-8, 19-28) 3-1 on Saturday night at Historic Simmons Field.
Mike Reitcheck (Penn) was in control from the get-go for the Mallards, as the left-hander made his eighth start of the season. Reitcheck was able to consistently pound the strike zone for Madison, as he allowed only one run through five innings facing a tough Kingfish lineup.
The Mallards would grab an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning thanks to a string of hits by the middle of the order. After three straight one out singles, Bryce Carter (Stanford) would hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Nelson Maldonado (Florida).
Kenosha was able to tie things up in the bottom of the third inning, but the game wouldn’t remain tied for long. Nate Palace (Valparaiso) led the top of the fourth inning off with a single to left field, and would advance to second on an error by the Kingfish outfielder. After Josh Stowers (Louisville) grounded out to second to advance Palace to third, Joe Stefanki (San Jose St.) would deliver a timely two out single to give the Mallards the lead.
The Kingfish would threaten in the bottom of the fourth inning, as they were able to load the bases with only one out. Reitcheck would respond by inducing two fly outs to shallow left field to keep the Kingfish off of the board in the fourth inning.
Madison turned the game over to their bullpen in the 6th inning, and for the second straight night the bullpen was shutdown. Ty Pennington (Nevada-Reno) would pitch two scoreless innings, recording three of his six outs via the strikeout.
All-star Troy Bacon (Santa Fe) would be called upon in the 8th inning with the Mallards clinging to their 2-1 lead. Despite allowing a two out bloop single in the eighth inning, Bacon was able to keep the Kingfish off the board and the game remained 2-1 heading to the ninth. The flame-throwing right-hander would slam the door shut in the ninth, as he struck out two Kingfish batters to record his fifth save of the season.
The Mallards will return home on Sunday night as they play host to the Kenosha Kingfish in the final game before the all-star break at 4:05 PM. The game will feature a Festival Foods Dancing Rick Bobblehead giveaway. It will also be Public Safety Night and Rayovac Night.
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.
