Madison, WI – July 17, 2016. The Mallards (7-5, 30-18) were able to top the Kenosha Kingfish (3-9, 19-29) by a score of 4-1 on Sunday afternoon, receiving an unbelievable performance from starter Mitchell Kilkenny (Texas A&M) in the contest. Kilkenny was able to take a no-hitter into the eighth inning, completely shutting down the Kenosha offense.
The Houston-born right-hander struck out six batters in his eight innings of work, finishing with two hits allowed and one unearned run. Continuing his outstanding control this summer, Kilkenny did not walk a Kingfish batter the entire contest. In 32 innings of work this summer, Kilkenny has only walked three batsmen. His outstanding performance lowered his ERA to 0.28 and his WHIP to 0.69 on the year.
“I was using the no-hitter as motivation in the later part of the game,” said Kilkenny. “Obviously you hate to see it broken up, but the pressure and adrenaline definitely subside after that.”
Racking up 13 hits on the day, the Mallards got out to an early lead thanks to a Nelson Maldonado (Florida) home run to lead off the second inning. Maldonado pointed right at the dugout as he rounded first base, happy to hit his first round-tripper of 2016.
“I was pointing at Matt O’Brien when I hit it out,” said Maldonado. “He told me I would hit a home run in this game, and that’s what happened.”
Joe Stefanki (San Jose State) would add on to the lead for Madison, grounding out to the second baseman to score the runner from third. The catcher would add two hits on the afternoon in addition to gunning a runner at second base.
A two-base error followed by a wild pitch would allow Kenosha to get on the board, scoring their only run of the game. In four games against Kenosha this season, Madison has only allowed Kingfish batters to score three runs.
The Mallards would finish up their scoring in the fourth inning, with Cam Comer (Virginia) scoring Nick Roark (Oral Roberts) on a sacrifice fly that missed being a home run by about a foot. Nico Hoerner (Stanford) delivered a two-out RBI that scored Stefanki, giving Madison their fourth and final run of the game. They would go on to win by the score of 4-1.
Kilkenny earned the win with his 7.1 hitless frames, picking up his fourth victory of the summer. The loss would be charged to Kenosha starter Rhett Rapshus (Illinois State), who allowed four runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings of work. Alex Lyons (Purdue) earned his first save of the summer in just his second outing, allowing two hits with a strikeout in one inning.
To accompany Kilkenny’s no-hit bid, five different Mallards hitters recorded multi-hit contests, with Stefanki, Roark, Hoerner, Matt McCann (Fairleigh Dickinson) and Nate Palace (Valparaiso) all recording at least two hits. Roark went 3-4 in the win.
The Mallards will return to the Duck Pond Thursday, July 21st, to take on the Kalamazoo Growlers at 7:05 pm. The game will be the Dentistry for Madison: Dr. Jay Hazen Star Wars Night. The Mallards will wear Darth Vader themed jerseys to be auctioned off during the game to benefit DAIS. There will also be a toothbrush 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.
