The Madison Mallards (6-5, 25-21) smashed their way to another win tonight over the Kenosha Kingfish (6-5, 27-18) with a 8-2 victory at Simmons Field.
Madison jumped on Kenosha early with one run in the top of the first inning. Zac Taylor (Illinois) lined a hard one-hopper past the Kenosha shortstop Ben Troike into shallow left field for what seemed to be a single, until Taylor rounded first and started trucking for second base. By the time left fielder Austin Bodrato realized that Taylor was racing for second, it was already too late. Taylor would later score from third thanks to an RBI single from Sam Armstrong (Jacksonville) to give Madison the early lead.
Over the next few innings, the teams traded solitary runs. Kenosha scored single runs in both the third and fourth innings off the bat of Tyler Paulsen. Paulsen belted a solo homer in the third and then brought in a run with an RBI single to left field an inning later. Down 2-1, Madison answered in the fifth inning with a sac fly from Doran Turchin (Illinois) to score Cole Daily (Notre Dame) from third.
Including Turchin’s sac fly in the fifth, Madison would go on to score seven unanswered runs. As the night progressed, Madison began to put more and more runners on base, tallying one run in the fifth and seventh, two in the sixth, and three in the eighth. The one run in the seventh came off the bat of Doran Turchin who slammed his tenth home run of the season out to left field. Not to be outdone, in the eighth inning, Zac Taylor launched his second home run in four days deep over the left field wall to score three Mallards and pull away for good. Madison has now gone yard six times in the last four days. With Turchin’s two RBI, he is now tied for third in the entire league with 40 runs batted in.
Despite giving up nine hits, the Madison pitching staff performed admirably on the day. Starter Matt Horkey (UNC-Charlotte) held Kenosha to two runs on seven hits. With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, Horkey pitched around the meat of the Kingfish lineup, popping out Tim Millard and then striking out Austin Bodrato to end Kenosha’s scoring threat.
Out of the bullpen, Andrew Baker (Florida) and Sam Cottingham-Beard (Western Illinois) combined to allow only two hits in four innings. The two relievers together allowed only three baserunners and struck out four.
Madison will be back in action at the Duck Pond tomorrow for game two against the Kingfish at 4:05 PM CST. This is the last game before the three-day All Star break that begins on Monday. Madison will send Cole Daily, Doran Turchin, and Simon Rosenblum-Larson to the 2017 Northwoods League All Star Game in Wausau, WI. Doran Turchin will also represent Madison in the Northwoods League 2017 Home Run Derby. Catch tomorrow’s action live on 106.7 FM and 1670 AM The ZONE.
