Kenosha, WI- August 2, 2016. The Madison Mallards (14-11, 37-24) continued their season long dominance over the Kenosha Kingfish (6-19, 22-39) with an 8-5 victory at Historic Simmons Field on Tuesday night.
Madison wasted no time in quieting the hostile crowd, as they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead before most fans had even found their seats. Cameron Frost (Washington St.) delivered a timely two-out single to score Matt McCann (Fairleigh Dickinson) from second, as McCann used an evasive slide to avoid the tag to give the Mallards the early lead.
Given the early lead, Mike Reitcheck (Penn) made his 10th start of the summer for the Mallards on the mound. After allowing a 2-out double, Reitcheck struck out the very next batter to keep the Kingfish off the board in the first. Reitcheck would throw five innings of five hit baseball, allowing just one earned run while striking out four to bring his ERA on the season to 3.86.
The Mallards would add to their lead in the top of the second inning, with the bottom of the order doing all of the work. After Cam Comer (Virignia) singled with one out, he would advance to second on a wild pitch. Noah Cummings (Oral Roberts) then engaged in a lengthy at-bat and after working the count full, doubled into right center field to score Comer as the Mallards opened up a 2-0 lead. Cummings would later come around to score on a wild pitch, thanks to a lack of control from Kingfish starter Sam Lund (Madison College). Lund would walk four batters in his four innings of work, allowing five earned runs as his ERA ballooned to 10.80 with the loss.
Kenosha would tie the game at three in the bottom of the third inning thanks to a timely single from their all-star third basemen Marty Bechina. The game wouldn’t remain tied for long, as the Mallards used a 2-run top of the fourth to push their lead back to two. Zach Jarrett delivered his team leading 45th RBI of the season in the top half of the inning to score Nelson Maldonado (Florida), who had reached earlier in the inning with his third walk of the contest.
The two teams would trade a few scoreless innings before the Mallards broke things open in the top of the sixth. With the bases loaded with two down, Cummings bounced a grounder right at Kingfish third basemen Bechina. Bechina fielded it cleanly but threw errantly to first base, which allowed Bryce Carter (Stanford) and Josh Stowers (Louisville) to come in to score as the Mallards took advantage of the Kenosha error.
With the 7-3 lead, the Mallards turned the ball over to newly acquired left-hander Drew Slade (Ripon) as he made his first appearance of the summer on the mound for Madison. Slade showed complete control of his full arsenal of pitches, as he worked through the final four innings of the game after taking over for Reitcheck. Slade would finish with a four inning save, as he allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out three Kingfish batters.
The Mallards will take on the Kingfish Wednesday night at Historic Simmons Field at 7:05 PM. The matchup will be the final time that the two teams meet in Kenosha during the 2016 regular season. Following Wednesday’s contest, the Mallards will return home to the Duck Pond on Thursday as they play host to the Kingfish at 7:05 PM. The game will be Gary “Big Dog” Breneman bobblehead giveaway. There will also be a Zimbrick Honda & Agrace HospiceCare Find The Fit Car Raffle.
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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.
