The Madison Mallards polished off a road-swing sweep of the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders with a 9-5 victory at Herr-Baker Field tonight. Madison’s offense got going early, and the Mallards knocked a total of 14 hits.  

The Mallards got off to a scorching start in the first inning. Ben Anderson (Georgia) led off the game with his second triple of the summer. Two batters later, Justice Bigbie (Western Carolina) roped a double to plate Anderson and give the Mallards a 1-0 lead.  

Later in the frame, Ryne Stanley (North Carolina A&T) drilled a two RBI double off the wall in left field to create a 3-0 cushion. A few pitches later, Nick Gile (Madison College) got in on the hit parade with an RBI single, boosting the Mallard lead to 4-0 in the first.

Madison had another explosive inning in the fourth, scoring four more runs. Logan Michaels (Virginia) ripped an RBI single to score the first, before Bigbie drove home two more on his second double of the game. Jordan Stephens (Miami Ohio) added to the slugfest with an RBI single of his own, opening a large 8-0 lead.

The Dock Spiders rallied back, however, and scored five unanswered runs. Fond du Lac scored a pair off RBI hits from Zeb Adreon (Iowa) and Charlie Maxwell (Northwestern) in the fourth inning. In the fifth, an RBI double from Luke Robinson (Western Carolina) and another RBI from Adreon knocked in another pair. Sam Novitzke (Oregon) laced an RBI single in the sixth inning and cut the Mallard lead to 8-5.

In the seventh, the Mallards manufactured another run and propelled the lead back to four runs, 9-5. Gile singled to start the frame and advanced over to third on a throwing error. Then, a wild pitch allowed him to score as the ninth run of the night for the Mallards.

Brian Weissert (Fordham) earned the win in relief for the Mallards, tossing two strong, hitless innings. Dock Spider starter, Jonathen Cowles (Colorado-Colorado Springs), was given the loss after allowing four runs in the first inning

Turning Point

The Mallard offense was strong from the start, scoring eight runs over the first four innings. In the fourth, the Mallards doubled their lead to 8-0 after five hits in the half-inning alone.

Top Mallards

• Michaels was one of two Mallards with a three-hit night. He finished 3-for-5 at the plate and picked up an RBI.  
• Bigbie recorded a three-RBI night at the dish and finished 2-for-5. In the series, Bigbie collected five RBI and was a big producer in the Mallards’ lineup
• Weissert and Leon Davidson (North Carolina A&T) secured the win with four hitless innings on the mound to end the game. Combined, the tandem did not allow a hit and had five strikeouts.