After dropping their third consecutive game on Sunday night to the Battle Creek Bombers, the Mallards (8-8, 31-21) will return to the Duck Pond to take on the Lakeshore Chinooks (7-9,22-30) Tuesday evening. A win in the contest would allow the Mallards to keep pace in a tight South division battle, as the top eight teams in the South are separated by a mere three games in the second half.
The Mallards will throw Heath Renz (UW-Whitewater) against the Chinooks, as the right-hander looks to build on his perfect record in 2016. Renz stands at 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA, having only allowed more than a single one in one of his seven starts. Renz battled Lakeshore back on June 9th, allowing three hits and a run across five innings in the no-decision. A member of the rotation since his arrival in May, and a Jefferson, Wisconsin, native, has been a steady arm in this Mallards staff in 2016.
Lakeshore will hand the ball to Cole Gnetz (Miami-OH), a right-hander who has also been a member for his respective staff since day one. Gnetz has pitched 41.1 frames across eight starts in 2016, going 1-1 with a 3.26 earned run average. His lone loss on the season came against Madison, where he allowed one run on three hits across five innings of work in an eventual 6-2 Mallards victory.
Nico Hoerner (Stanford) and Nate Palace (Valparaiso) have been swinging hot bats for this Madison team, as they are hitting .371 and .325, respectively, over their last ten contests. Palace has hit three of his four home runs on the season in that span.
Tuesday’s game against the Lakeshore Chinooks will get underway at 7:05 pm from the Duck Pond at Warner Park. It will be Princess Night at the ballpark with appearances by Queen Elsa, Princess Anna & Cinderella. There will be a giveaway of Locksley's self-titled album featuring 'The Whip' and 'Oh Wisconsin,’ showcasing up-tempo modern rock and roll for the whole family. 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.
