Following the postponement of Thursday night’s game due to rain, the Mallards (15-11, 38-24) face the Kenosha Kingfish (6-20, 22-40) in a doubleheader on Friday. Both contests will be seven innings, with Madison hoping to maintain their perfect record against the Kingfish in 2016.
The Mallards will throw right-hander Mike Byrne (Florida) in game one, who is set to make his fifth start of 2016. Byrne is currently 1-1 with a 5.14 ERA, having struck out 26 batters in 21 innings of work. The Orlando, Florida native had his best start of the season against Kenosha back on July 12th, allowing one run on three hits with eight strikeouts in five frames, earning a no-decision.
Charlie Hecht (Georgia College) will get the ball for the Kingfish in the opening contest, ready for his team-leading 11th start of 2016. The right-hander is 2-4 with a 5.26 ERA and 1.61 WHIP, recording 36 strikeouts in 51.1 innings. Hecht faced Madison back on July 13th, allowing three runs on six hits in six innings, while taking the loss. Opponents are hitting .308 against Hecht this summer.
In the nightcap, Madison will throw Frank German (North Florida), who was lights out in his last outing against the Kingfish. German went six shutout innings while allowing only three hits and punching out eight. The right-hander is 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA this season. His opposition will be the left-hander Grant Spranger (Southeastern CC), who has a 1.83 ERA in four starts this summer. Spranger faced Madison back on July 12th, allowing a run on four hits in 5.2 frames in the no-decision.
Madison has been arguably the hottest team in the Northwoods League as of late, winning seven of their last ten games and hitting .331 as a team in that span. They’ve been getting huge performances at the plate from Josh Stowers (Louisville), Cam Comer (Virginia), Cameron Frost (Washington State) and Nelson Maldonado (Florida), who are all hitting over .350 in their last ten outings.
Friday’s games against the Kenosha Kingfish will see game one start at 5:00pm with game two starting thirty minutes after the conclusion of game one. The night will be the Meriter baseball themed soccer ball giveaway. There will also be Rally Entertainment presented by The Payroll Company. There’s also a Potosi Brewing Company pint glass giveaway and Zimbrick Honda & Agrace HospiceCare Win the Civic Auto Raffle. 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.
