The Madison Mallards (36-24) lost 7-5 to the Lakeshore Chinooks (29-31) on Sunday at Kapco Park. The Mallards yielded four home runs to power the majority of the Chinook offense and the two foes in the Great Lakes West split their final series of the regular season.
Madison is still two games behind the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters in the overall standings.
The Mallards jumped out to an early lead in the second inning. Madison quickly loaded the bases with no outs in the inning. Then, a sacrifice fly from Nick Gile (Madison College) followed by an RBI single from Wade Stauss (SEMO) made it a 2-0 lead. A few pitches later, Nick Figus (Illinois Wesleyan) extended the Mallards’ advantage to 3-0 with his sixth RBI of the summer.
Lakeshore cut into the Madison lead in the second. Griffin Doersching (Northern Kentucky) launched his eighth home run of the season to make it 3-1. Jake Thompson (Kentucky) smacked a home run in the third inning and cut Madison’s lead to 3-2.
Gile and Stauss lifted back-to-back sacrifice flies for the Mallards in the fourth innings to once again make it a three-run lead, 5-2.
The Chinooks quickly got a run back with their third solo home run of the game. Trent Bauer (Western Illinois) blasted his second home run of the season to make it a 5-3 contest.
Lakeshore took the lead for the first time in the fifth inning. Daryl Myers (Benedictine College) knocked an RBI double to make it a one-run game. Then, Doersching poked his second home run of the game, a two-run blast, to put the Chinooks on top 6-5.
Myers knocked an RBI single in the seventh inning to push Lakeshore’s lead to 7-5.
Trevor Marreel (Washburn) donned the loss for the Mallards after allowing six runs in just over four innings of work.
Bailey Vuylsteke (Miami-Ohio) earned the win in relief for the Chinooks. Luke Sommerfeld (Clemson) earned Lakeshore’s 17th save of the season after closing things out on the mound in the ninth.
Turning Point
The Mallards carried the lead until the fifth inning, after an RBI double slimmed the lead to one, Doersching’s second home run of the afternoon gave Lakeshore the lead for the first time. The Chinooks never relinquished the lead and held onto a two-run victory.
Top Mallards
- Timo Schau (Southern Wesleyan) was the only Mallard with a multi-hit game. Schau finished 2-for-2 and scored two runs.
- Stauss and Gile paced the offense with two-RBI games each. Stauss had one hit while Gile was held hitless, but the two combined to drive home four of the five Mallard runs.
- John Sakowski (Creighton) tossed a perfect inning in relief. Sakowski needed just 11 pitches and fired eight stikes to polish off a spotless eighth inning on the mound.
Next Up
The Mallards have the day off on Monday and will return to action on Tuesday in Wausau, Wisconsin for their final visit of 2019 to Athletic Park. The series opener against the Wausau Woodchucks is scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. start. Hear every pitch of the 2019 Mallards’ season live on The Zone, 96.7 FM and 1670 AM.
