The Madison Mallards (3-4, 22-20) will ready themselves to take on the Green Bay Bullfrogs (1-6, 18-29) tonight at Joannes Stadium for the second game of a two-game series between the two teams.
The Mallards offense got back to it’s smashing ways last night by putting up runs each of the last four innings to top Green Bay 13-4. The Mallards were scoreless until the sixth inning but then unleashed an offensive barrage. Amidst the offensive outburst, Zac Taylor (Illinois) crushed a grand slam to continue his streak at the plate.
Tonight the Bullfrogs will meet Madison’s starter Heath Renz (UW-Whitewater). Renz will look to follow in the foot steps of Nate Brown (Florida), who had a strong start last. Brown tossed a solid five innings while striking out nine batters. Renz is starting his eighth game as a Mallard this season. So far, he has struck out 25 hitters and has a 2-1 record.
Set to oppose Renz is Jared Tobey for Green Bay. Tobey has a 1-4 record with a 4.77 ERA on the season through seven starts.
Game Notes
Split Series
Madison has split the two previous series with Green Bay. In both of the first games of the series, Madison walked away with huge wins: 20-1 and 16-0. The present series with the Bullfrogs has shaped up like the first two, with Madison routing Green Bay 13-4 last night. However, in both the previous series, Green Bay came back in the second game to edge out the Mallards. Madison will look to reverse the trend today at Joannes Stadium and sweep Green Bay for the first time this season.
Strong Start
Heath Renz, the starting pitcher for Madison, will be making is eighth start in as many appearances on the mound tonight against the Bullfrogs. This will be the first time that Renz will see Green Bay this year. So far, the right-hander has allowed only 12 earned runs in 29.1 innings.
Twinning
After each knocking runs in last night, Madison’s Doran Turchin (Illinois) and Jeffrey Mitchell Jr. (California) are tied with each other for fourth in the Northwoods league with 36 RBI each. No other two teammates in the league have as many RBI as the Mallards ribbie-twins Turchin and Mitchell Jr.
Crafty Lefties
After a strong start last night from Green Bay’s southpaw Connor Wollersheim, the Bullfrogs will throw another left-hander to start off tonight’s matchup. Jared Tobey, a junior from Wayne State, will be charged with holding Madison in check for the beginning of the game. The Mallards have struggled off of lefties this year, hitting below .200 when a southpaw is on the mound.
The Long Ball
With a grand slam last night, Zac Taylor hit the first Mallards home run since the 4th of July. Doran Turchin leads the team with eight dingers so far on the year and has been selected for the Northwoods League Home Run Derby in Wausau next week.
Tonight’s game is set to get underway at 7:05 PM at Joannes Stadium in Green Bay. The Mallards will return home on Thursday, July 13th for a matchup with the Lakeshore Chinooks. For live updates of tonight’s game, check out @MadisonMallards on Twitter and listen live on The Zone 1670AM or 106.7FM WOZN.
