Madison, Wis. –  The Madison Mallards (0-1, 28-9) fell to the Battle Creek Bombers (1-0, 17-19) on Wednesday afternoon at Warner Park. The Mallards could only manage four hits and were shutout for the first time this season. Battle Creek starter Chase Wheatcroft worked 5.0 scoreless frames and struck out six before giving way to Kevin Hahn and the rest of the Battle Creek bullpen.

Turning Point

Battle Creek third baseman Caleb Henderson crushed a three-run home run in just the third at bat of the game to give the Bombers a quick lead in the first inning. The scoring supported Bombers starter Chase Wheatcroft who allowed only two hits through his 5.0 innings of work. The Mallards had opportunities with runners on second and third in the fourth inning but Wheatcroft was able to strike out Justice Bigbieto end the threat. Battle Creek added plenty of insurance with three runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth to pad the lead up to seven runs.

Top Mallards

• Mallards infielder Trevor Schwecke (UW-Milwaukee) collected a hit, extending his hitting streak to five games. Schwecke is heating up at the plate again after having his 15-game hit streak snapped last week.
• Madison outfielder Drew Campbell(Louisville) had a pair of hits including an eighth inning double, the only extra-base hit for the Mallards. Campbell now has seven doubles this summer through 21 games.

Next Up

The Mallards take on the Bombers for game two of their series at Warner Park at 6:05 PM tomorrow night. Gates open at 4:30 PM and the game features a post-game concert by Pat McCurdy presented by Endres Manufacturing, followed by fireworks presented by Pepsi. For tickets and more information visit mallardsbaseball.com. Make sure to catch every Mallards game on The Zone, 1670 AM and 96.7 FM.

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The Madison Mallards are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM).  All league games are viewable live via theNorthwoods League portal. For more information, visitwww.mallardsbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Mallards as your favorite team.