The Mallards (20-11, 43-24) will play their final home game of the regular season on Wednesday against the Willmar Stingers (19-12, 37-30) before heading out on the road for four games. The Mallards have won eight contests in a row, and nine of their last ten, including Monday’s 5-4 victory over the Stingers.
Luke Matheny (Oklahoma State) will get the ball for the Mallards, as the right-hander is slated for his fifth start of 2016. Matheny has been excellent this summer, as his 1.56 ERA leads the Mallards pitching staff. In his last outing, the St. Louis, Missouri native allowed only three hits and no earned runs in four innings of work in the eventual Madison win over the Kenosha Kingfish. Matheny stands at 0-1 on the year, having struck out 14 batters in 23 frames.
Willmar will send Caleb Arbetier (Murray State) to the rubber, with the right-hander looking for win number two on the summer. Arbetier is 1-0 with an impressive 0.77 ERA in 11.2 frames in 2016, recording ten punch-outs in the process. Like Matheny, Arbetier is coming off of his best start of the year, allowing six hits and two unearned runs in 6.2 innings against the Eau Claire Express.
Madison’s offense has been the storyline during this eight-game win streak, with the Mallards hitting .350 across that stretch. Willmar enters the game with the top-ranked offense in the Northwoods League, leading in both runs and hits, making for an exciting contest at the Duck Pond.
Wednesday’s game against the Willmar Stingers will get underway from the Duck Pond at Warner Park at 7:05 pm. The game will be the last regular season home game of the season. It will be Cutter Night at the Duck Pond as well as JJO I Love the 90's Night. The game will be Fan Appreciation Night presenting ZOOperstars! It will also be Bacon Appreciation Night and CAT Night. 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.
