The day started off strong for the Madison Mallards. LHP Justin Medlin (Arkansas State) settled into a groove early and went six innings, striking out five and giving up two runs. The game was scoreless going into the third, when the Mallards leading home run hitter, Alex Iadisernia (Elon), hit a solo shot to give the Mallards a 1-0 lead. With the home run, Iadisernia is tied for the Northwoods League lead in home runs with nine.
In the fourth, the Mallards extended their lead. Michael Fuhrman (San Diego) singled to lead off the inning, then Kyle Bork (Minnesota) followed that up with a single of his own, which brought Fuhrman home. Three batters later, Drake Baldwin (Missouri State) singled to bring in Bork and give the Mallards a 3-0 lead.
The following inning, the Fuhrman-Bork tandem struck again, this time with Fuhrman reaching on an error, then Bork hit another RBI single to give the Mallards a 4-0 lead.
Medlin gave up his two runs in the sixth inning but was able to escape trouble and hand the ball over to Jared Fong (Wash. U in St. Louis) for the save opportunity. Fong converted the chance for his fourth save of the year.
Medlin improved to 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA in the winning effort, and Jared Bellissimo (Rutgers) took the loss for the Dock Spiders, falling to 2-2 with a 6.00 ERA.
Game two did not go as well for the Mallards. LHP Michael Haley (New Mexico) started for Madison and was not able to record two outs before exiting the game. He gave up five earned runs and walked two in the one-third inning of work. The Dock Spiders were able to total seven runs in the opening frame and put the game well out of reach. Fond du Lac added two more in the second and another four in the third, jumping out to a 13-1 lead.
The Mallards were able to rally for four runs in the top of the fifth inning on extra-base hits from Bryant Shellenbarger (Akron) and Baldwin. However, their rally fell short.
In the second seven-inning game, Haley took the loss, while Austin Sachen (Wash. U in St. Louis) pitched a complete game on his way to a win.
The Mallards will conclude their series in Fond du Lac tomorrow, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35 P.M.
