Battle Creek, MI – July 24, 2016. After a late start due to inclement weather, the Madison Mallards (31-21, 8-8) dropped the final meeting of the season to the Battle Creek Bombers (26-26, 8-8) by a final score of 4-2 on Sunday evening.
For the second straight night the Bombers took an early lead, as they were able to grab a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Making his fourth start of the season, Weston Wuethrich (Washington) was able to escape further damage in the first by striking out Christian Helsel (Penn State) with runners on second and third.
The Bombers would tack on runs in both the second and third inning, and took a 3-0 lead into the fifth. Luke Shilling (Illinois) came out of the bullpen for the Mallards in the fifth, and pitched two scoreless innings to keep the Mallards in striking distance.
With a runner trying to score from second after a two-out single in the sixth, Cameron Frost (Washington St.) showed off his fire-hose of a right arm, throwing out the potential run to give the Mallards momentum heading to the seventh inning.
Nelson Maldonado (Florida) led the seventh inning off with a double, and would later come around to score thanks to a Bomber error. The Bombers would answer with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, as they pushed the lead to 4-1.
The Mallards continued to fight and scored another run in the top of the 8th inning when Bryce Carter (Stanford) led the inning off with a single. He would advance around the bases and come around to score when Matt McCann (Fairleigh Dickinson) would ground into a fielder’s choice.
Justin Watts (Northern Kentucky) would come out of the bullpen to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, as he retired the Bombers in order to give the Mallards a chance in the ninth. The Mallards would bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but couldn’t get a run across, as they lost the game by a final score of 4-2.
The Mallards will enjoy an off day Monday before returning to the Duck Pond on Tuesday, July 26th to face the Lakeshore Chinooks at 7:05 PM. Tuesday night will be Princess Night with appearances by Queen Elsa, Princess Anna and Cinderella. It will also be a giveaway of Locksley’s self-titled album featuring ‘The Whip’ and ‘Oh Wisconsin."
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.
